panorama 015

panorama 015
annual report
panorama 2015
annual report
contents
5
e D ITORIAL
t e a c h i n g
38
14
T e c h
r e s e a r c h
T r a n s f e r
o u t l o o k
58
66
e p f l
6
i n
f i g u r e s
48
P e r s o n a l i a
2 April 2015: the preliminary framework
agreement on Iran’s nuclear program
was unveiled on the EPFL campus.
Patrick Aebischer President
When French President François Hollande visited Switzerland in 2015, he decided to make
a stop at EPFL. This gave the French delegation the opportunity to forge new ties with
our start-ups, for the benefit of both countries. And when the European Union, Iran and
the United States were preparing to announce the outcome of their nuclear talks, they
chose EPFL’s campus to hold the press conference that would be broadcast live around
the world.
The growing prominence of Swiss universities reflects the recognized excellence of our
academic institutions. Switzerland has the highest number of patents, Nobel prizes and
scientific publications on a per capita basis of any country in the world. Foreign decision-makers have taken note and, in addition to enjoying our mountain scenery, they
also want to visit this “other Switzerland“ – a hotbed of entrepreneurship and innovation.
“Today’s youth and
their education ARE
where we add the
greatest value.”
In today’s globalized and increasingly connected world, EPFL has taken the lead. In 2015,
the number of people signing up for our MOOCs surpassed the one million mark. Most
of our MOOCs students come from all over the world, but they are mostly from North
America, Asia and, thanks to a deliberate strategy, Africa. These future engineers,
managers, intellectuals and decision-makers are following Swiss-made curricula from
their respective homeland. Soon they will be “ambassadors” for our country in all four
corners of this rapidly-changing world.
Our international reach goes hand in hand with a solid local footprint that now covers all
of western Switzerland. While our main campus is in Lausanne, we also have branches
in Neuchâtel, Sion, Geneva and Fribourg. All these campuses are firmly embedded in the
local economic and industrial fabric that is the source of Switzerland’s strength. Today
more than ever, EPFL is a multifaceted institution.
Yet these achievements must not overshadow our school’s main role, which is to provide
an education. We now have over 10,000 students. This point rarely gets attention from
the media and the general public, which tend to focus more on our successful start-ups,
prestigious partnerships and breakthrough research in important areas like cancer and
new energies. Yet today’s youth and their education are where we add the greatest value.
Regardless of whether they go straight to work after high school or continue on to university, young people from all backgrounds are vital to the Swiss economy. Spotlights and
presidential visits aside, we are very proud to play our role in teaching the next generation that – lest we forget – is the cornerstone of our continued success and prosperity.
Editorial
In this year’s Annual Report, you will discover how Switzerland’s technology schools have
an impact well beyond the academic realm. In recent years, they have even become a
point of pride for the entire country. Switzerland’s position as one of the leading countries for technology and research is increasingly recognized within our own borders. But
there is nevertheless some truth to the saying “No man is a prophet in his own land” –
our reputation is largely being built outside our borders, where people admire and envy
the Swiss education, research and innovation ecosystem.
7
teaching
Philippe Gillet
Vice president for
Academic Affairs
“Instructors can draw
from a large range of
effective teaching tools.”
2015 Welcome Day
for new students.
At EPFL, promoting excellence and innovation is a top
priority in teaching no less than in research. We encourage professors to incorporate novel approaches in their
teaching methods to better engage our students, whose
numbers surpassed the symbolic 10,000 mark with the
incoming class of 2015. In addition, more than one million
people around the world take our free MOOCs.
In 2015 we launched a targeted initiative to define and
standardize the content of our first-year polytechnic
courses, so as to ensure that all students have a solid
foundation. We introduced coordinated exams to test
students’ knowledge and adopted a series of quality-assurance measures. The accreditation of both our Bachelor’s and Master’s curricula was renewed by the Swiss
Agency of Accreditation and Quality Assurance (AAQ) and
the French Commission des Titres d’Ingénieur (CTI).
To recognize the extraordinary efforts of those teachers
who go the extra mile, we handed out awards to the
best teachers in each section for the first time this year.
These distinctions are not only for professors, but for
all instructors who help train tomorrow’s talents with
passion and flair. This year, Jean-Cédric Chappelier and
Jamila Sam won the school’s top teaching award for their
joint work, which successfully brought online classes into
the teaching process.
From the courses provided at our Lausanne campus to
those delivered through our MOOCs for Africa program,
EPFL continues to play an important role in the use and
development of new teaching methods. Instructors can
draw from a large range of effective teaching tools – from
flipped classrooms and transdisciplinary projects to new
technologies, not to mention computer applications that
make it easier for students in large lecture halls to participate. With the help of our Teaching Support Centre,
we have even made forays into interactive learning on
campus. Interactive learning encourages student participation and helps in the teaching of theoretical concepts.
And our Discovery Learning Labs are designed to let
students apply what they learned in the classroom under
real-life conditions.
All these initiatives will not only benefit EPFL students, as
we are in the process of creating an extension school to
expand our range of continuing education courses.
Starting next year, the extension school will offer new
online and campus-based courses.
MOOCs can help
make up for
inequality in
education.
A virtual campus
with a million
students
Reinventing
teaching at EPFL
10
Jamila Sam and Jean-Cédric Chappelier
won the Credit Suisse Award for Best
Teaching 2015, which recognizes EPFL’s
best instructors.
For some students, spending hours in a lecture hall listening to a professor is a thing of the past. Several programming courses offered at EPFL have now been totally
transformed thanks to Jamila Sam and Jean-Cédric
­Chappelier. For the past two years, their students have
been on the receiving end of a new style of teaching
delivered over the internet in the form of videos, tutorials
and quizzes that they can do at their own pace. When they
do go to class, it’s not to learn new material but to take
what was presented online into further detail. This “flipped
classroom” concept requires a considerable investment on
the part of the instructor. It’s the method that Sam and
Chappelier used to create four MOOCs – online courses
that take weeks of preparation and filming.
The results of these novel courses speak for themselves.
Because they are actively involved in learning, students
are more motivated and do better on exams – something
that is particularly true of students who were struggling.
The Credit Suisse Award for Best Teaching recognized not
only Sam and Chappelier’s innovative approach but also
the tangible impact their efforts have had on teaching
EPFL students.
The number of students enrolled in
EPFL’s free MOOCs topped one million
by the end of summer.
Interest in EPFL goes beyond international borders. While
over 10,000 students are studying on campus, more than
a million are taking the school’s online courses. Students
in more than 185 countries have signed up for the school’s
massive open online courses (MOOCs), which were first
offered in October 2012 and are available to everyone free
of charge.
Many students who take the online courses do not follow
through, but more than 55,000 have obtained the certificate of achievement. EPFL currently has a portfolio of 47
MOOCs. They cover a wide range of course material and are
especially popular among African students, almost 50,000
of whom are registered through the school’s MOOCs for
Africa program in collaboration with African universities
and technical institutes.
In addition to their international following, MOOCs also serve
an important need for EPFL students. 4,048 of them have
already opened an online account, and they have taken an
average of 2.6 MOOCs per person. What’s more, many professors have integrated MOOCs into their own curriculum,
a practice that is likely to expand further, in part to help
students transition from high school to EPFL.
Most people who sign up for EPFL’s MOOCs are adults
seeking to further their training or change careers. EPFL
would like to offer tailored courses to these people starting
in 2016.
Students are
inventing the
objects of
the future
At an evening event held at EPFL,
14 finalists in the “My Thesis in
180 Seconds” competition presented
their research to an audience of
over 600 people.
The China Hardware Innovation Camp,
an initiative of the EPFL College of
Humanities, took 15 students from
Lausanne to Shenzhen to develop
some eye-popping prototypes.
Three minutes and not one second more. According to the
rules governing this competition, the students have only
180 seconds to talk about their research, to a decidedly
diverse crowd. The criteria were numerous and specific –
e.g., elocution, rhythm, fluidity, gestures, clarity, contextualization and use of metaphors – and the bar was set high.
Imagine an object – everything about it from A to Z –
and then go to China to see it being manufactured. That’s
the challenge that 15 students took on for a semester as
part of the first-ever China Hardware Innovation Camp
(CHIC), which was organized by EPFL’s College of Humanities together with Swissnex China. CHIC participants worked
on interdisciplinary teams made up of students from EPFL,
the University of Art and Design of Lausanne (ECAL) and
the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of
Lausanne (HEC Lausanne).
First prize was won by Alessandro de Simone, a PhD candidate in Pierre Gönczy’s laboratory. His presentation on DNA
organizers in stem cells, which he compared to waiters in a
restaurant, was delivered with abundant poise and humor.
It won over both the jury and the crowd, as he also shared
the audience award with Justine Gay-Des-Combes.
In order to prepare effectively for the competition, that
same month the students were trained in public speaking
by two media professionals with a focus on practice. Each
participant went in front of the camera several times and
received constructive criticism from the trainers and their
peers. The training in itself was a real boon for their future
career. Switzerland is expected to compete in the international finals of “My Thesis in 180 Seconds” in 2016.
The students who developed
Fimi, a baby bottle equipped
with sensors to measure the
milk’s temperature and provide
consumption statistics.
The three prototypes that came out of CHIC were unveiled in
September. Clearly the most surprising one, already looking
polished, was Fimi, the smart baby bottle. It has a base
equipped with sensors to measure the milk’s temperature
and provide statistics on the baby’s consumption. Another
project is Dory, a water analysis kit dressed up as a game
console. Then there is Vesta, a clever prototype designed to
put older people back in touch with the younger generation
by virtue of a simplified tablet. It’s like a device for virtual
postcards: with one click the user can receive photos and
messages sent by a smartphone.
Teaching
180 seconds
to present
their thesis
to the public
11
12
EPFL redesigns Place
Cosandey, the future
heart of the campus
Place Cosandey, sitting AMONG the iconic buildings at the
campus’s entrance, will have a new look in eleven months.
The EPFL laboratory and students leading the project
recently unveiled the future campus commons with its
many attractions.
The plans include a tree-covered hill with seating for 800 people, a small performance
stage and green areas for relaxing. The project will cover 16,000 square meters in Place
Cosandey and consist of a series of circles, each of which associated with a specific
function. The new campus commons will be publicly inaugurated at the same time as the
Under One Roof building in November 2016.
Place Cosandey was designed by 18 students under the supervision of Dieter Dietz, professor of architecture at EPFL and head of the ALICE laboratory (Design Studio on the Conception of Space), together with Rudi Nieveen. After surveying the EPFL community, the
team held three seminars to consider various uses for the new space, taking into account
its location as well as people’s needs and desires. The students focused on ten factors:
context, ground, vegetation, water, materials, activities, light, covered seating, sound and
art. And they never lost sight of the fact that the new campus commons had to be a multipurpose space able to fit seamlessly into EPFL’s major events.
Place Cosandey
will become EPFL’s
student commons.
semester projects:
students give
research a try
Marc-Edouard Schultheiss and Alexandre Bouchet
came up with the idea of using Lego blocks to
transfer their knowledge.
Marc-Edouard Schultheiss and Alexandre Bouchet, two students in the
School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC),
went to India as part of a humanitarian project supported by Engineers of the World, a student association at EPFL. Their goal: to
teach villagers – especially women – how to build a shower and
toilet connected to a pit.
However, the students ran up against problems of illiteracy.
They responded with a surprising solution: they created a replicable model with LEGO blocks. They subsequently presented
their project at UN headquarters in New York.
What if all cars were electric?
Cihan Cavdarli analyzed the various impacts
of a complete switchover to electric cars in
Switzerland. He took economic, environmental,
technological and tax-related factors into account
and even used the Swiss-Energyscope energy
calculator developed by the Energy Center.
For Cihan Cavdarli,
the positive impact
of switching
to electric cars
outweighs the
negative impact.
Cihan’s research revealed that electricity demand would rise
by 19-24%, but that electromobility would bring with it a number
of socio-economic and environmental benefits. Electric cars are not yet economical, but by 2020 they should cost the same as gas-powered ones.
Teaching
LEGO kits to help the women of India
13
The shores of Lake Gruyere
served as a testing ground for
Max Mentha and Morgan Bruhin’s
Master’s project.
Lake Gruyere mosquitos:
hitting them when they’re weakest
Max Mentha and Morgan Bruhin, two Master’s students in environmental
engineering, developed an online platform that tracks the growth of the
mosquito larvae that are abundant around Lake Gruyere.
The students enhanced the existing model by integrating a threeday weather forecast. This will help the authorities determine exactly
when and where to intervene with a natural, bacteria-based insecticide spread by helicopter.
A step closer
to reusable rockets
14
Danylo Malyuta and four other mechanical
engineering students developed a miniature rocket with the support of the Space
Engineering Center (eSpace). It represents a step towards rockets that can
land vertically and thus be reused.
The device, around 1.5 meters long and
sporting a powerful engine, is not a traditional rocket. The innovation is the control
system, which the students invented for
their Bachelor’s project. It may help achieve
a rocket capable of a precision landing.
Danylo Malyuta and
his classmates see
interplanetary travel in
our future.
Benjamin Rime visited
hospitals and met with
mothers of premature babies.
From Lausanne to Yaoundé:
giving premature babies a chance
Benjamin Rime came up with a sturdy and innovative thermoregulation
system for incubators in southern countries. Instead of heating a simple
material (water, stone or metal) in order to recover the heat later, his system
uses a synthetic polymer. While it solidifies, the polymer releases heat at a
constant temperature of 52°C.
Rime developed his prototype in part during a trip to Cameroon. His work was
based at EPFL’s Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology, which is part
of the GlobalNeoNat project run by the EssentialTech team at the Cooperation
and Development Center.
Eric Bonvin uses graphene and
perovskites to detect light.
Building the ultimate light detector
Eric Bonvin develops ultra-sensitive light detectors that can theoretically pick
up a single photon. He combines graphene – which is extremely strong and
possesses exceptional electrical properties – and perovskites in order to
create devices that are ten million times more sensitive to light than silicon
photodetectors, the standard technology used today.
Such ultra-sensitive photodetectors could have applications in light-based
quantum computing systems and even space telescopes.
Laetitia Laub and Eric Paic, two physics
students, spent their summer at EPFL’s
Astrophysics Laboratory – LASTRO –
at the Sauverny observatory near
Geneva. They worked on anti-gravity using data collected by the Swiss
Euler telescope in Chile’s Atacama
Desert.
The students looked at how light
rays are distorted by the mass
of a celestial body, an effect of
gravity on light. They spent the
sum­m er absorbed in astrophysics
and were able to contribute to the
project in Sauverny that began around
10 years ago.
Laetitia Laub and Eric Paic spent their
summer studying gravitational lenses
at EPFL’s Astrophysics Laboratory.
Jean-Charles Fosse, Johann Bigler and
Alexandre Ringwald created ThinkEE,
a social network for energy matters.
A social network to help reduce our electricity consumption
In view of Switzerland’s goal of reducing electricity consumption by 35% between now and 2035,
Jean-Charles Fosse, Johann Bigler and Alexandre Ringwald, three future microengineers, wondered
how people could be made to change their habits. They developed an interactive website called
ThinkEE – a sort of social network about energy – in order to link grid operators with users.
The site encourages users to get involved, such as by comparing their electricity consumption with
that of their neighbors and interacting and exchanging ideas with them and other users.
Teaching
A summer with their head
in the stars
15
research
Philippe Gillet
Vice president for academic affairs
Karl Aberer
Vice president for information systems
“Big data refers to the hundreds of millions
of bits of information stored and processed
on powerful servers, on subjects as varied
as the human genome, astrophysics, history,
climatology and personalized medicine.”
Ultra-high vacuum chamber
for analyzing photoelectrons.
Today, science is all about data. Big Data refers to the
hundreds of millions of bits of information stored and
processed on powerful servers, on subjects as varied
as the human genome, astrophysics, history, climatology and personalized medicine. While computers are no
match for a researcher’s eye, they do allow researchers
to sort through massive amounts of information and spot
complex relationships, such as those between a genetic
mutation and the onset of a given disease, between the
position of galaxies and Einstein’s equations, or between
desertification and the melting of the polar ice caps.
Take, for example, the Blue Brain Project, one of the
core components of the Human Brain Project. Big Data
plays a vital role. The project involves compiling all the
patches of knowledge about the human brain into a single
computer model, in an attempt to better understand how
this extraordinary organ functions in a structured system.
It’s a controversial approach, but one that started to pay
off in 2015. As you will see in the following pages, project
researchers, with the visionary support of the Swiss government, demonstrated that their system works and
delivers crucial new insights. Their proof of concept
shows that the neurosciences have indeed entered the
era of Big Data.
You will also see how Big Data is at work in fields like astrophysics. In the Euclid project, an international research
program in which EPFL is taking part, scientists are testing
the limits of the theory of relativity itself by carefully
mapping out millions of galaxies. The goal is to further
develop the theoretical framework left to us by one of the
most famous physicists ever to work at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
Big Data requires serious infrastructure, including data
centers, racks of servers and supercomputers. It also
requires an intricate network of systems and methods for
sharing and storing data, and for fostering collaborative
research at both the national and international level.
In fact, without collaboration, there would be no Big Data.
Big Data is the result of teamwork on a global scale. It is
the foundation on which future progress will be built – and
properly managing it is one of the most crucial and strategic issues in research today.
Greater collaboration with
the Swiss rail system to
stimulate innovation
Swiss Federal Railways (CFF) extended its existing
collaboration with the University of St. Gallen to
include the Federal Institutes of Technology in
Lausanne and Zurich (EPFL and ETHZ). The goal is to
stimulate research and innovation in the railway sector.
New discoveries and innovative technologies have always driven the development of the
Swiss rail system. That’s why the CFF has decided to expand its collaborative relationship with
Switzerland’s technical universities. To this end, it entered into a cooperative research agreement with EPFL and ETHZ.
Under the terms of the five-year agreement, the CFF pays each university 150,000 francs per
year. A research committee made up of researchers from EPFL, ETHZ and the University of St.
Gallen, together with representatives of the CFF, defines the issues for the researchers to focus
on. The chosen topics are submitted for competitive bidding, which is open to researchers from
all over Switzerland. The research committee then selects the projects and determines the level
of funding for each of them.
At EPFL, a coordinator was appointed to the Transportation Center team. EPFL contributes its
particular expertise in areas such as energy efficiency, modeling, simulations and optimizing
transport systems, including railways.
18
Ramp metering and speed limits
to prevent traffic jams
Traffic delays across the entire Swiss
road system could be reduced by at
least 12% by managing the access to
highway on-ramps and reducing the
speed limit in express lanes.
In 30 years, traffic has more than tripled on most Swiss
highways. On the A1 between Lausanne and Geneva, it
increased from 20,000 to nearly 90,000 vehicles per day.
The consequences are translated into daily kilometers of
traffic jams and delays. One of the strategies put forward
to remedy this situation is ramp metering, which refers to
regulating highway access with a system of traffic lights.
Researchers at the Urban Transport Systems Laboratory (LUTS) propose to combine this measure with speed
limits on some highway sections. They collected data on
A1 traffic, which they then compiled and sorted in order
to develop a traffic-control algorithm. In the algorithm the
highway is divided into zones in which variable speed limits
are considered.
And it works! Simulations confirm the effectiveness of this
approach. The algorithm managed to slow the onset of congestion, help traffic return to normal speeds after traffic
jams and improve overall performance on the highway
and on both on- and off-ramps. Total delays decreased
by about 30% on the highway and by approximately 12%
across the entire road network.
Because concrete and reinforcement
bars often make up the lion’s share of
a building’s cost, builders often build
walls that are too thin.
19
Thin walls with potentially
fatal consequences
In earthquake-prone developing countries, cutting corners
on the cost of construction materials can have devastating
consequences.
Earthquakes almost never kill people by themselves. Instead, their high toll is exacted through
unstable buildings and infrastructure. Yet even today, many structures with even thinner
walls are being built in some Latin American countries. To withstand an earthquake, a building’s structure has to be ductile enough to ride out the vibrations caused by the earthquake’s seismic waves. But because seismic design is typically more expensive and requires
more expertise, poorer parts of developing and emerging countries are often saddled with
sub-standard buildings.
Engineers from EPFL evaluated the stability of thin reinforced concrete walls to understand
how they fail. “The data we gathered in our experiment is unique,” says Katrin Beyer, the
principal investigator of the study. “It is the first to contain detailed measurements of an
out-of-plane wall failure, which means that the wall structure was irreversibly deformed
perpendicularly to its surface.” Thanks to an array of sensors, cameras, and strain gauges,
the researchers were able to capture and analyze every motion leading up to the collapse
of the wall.
Solar panels that adapt
to high temperatures
Smart materials are revolutionizing
solar thermal collectors. A team of
researchers from EPFL developed a
coating capable of absorbing heat as
well as repelling it.
Solar thermal collectors are used to produce hot water and
contribute to home heating. During colder seasons all the
energy they absorb is put to good use. In summer, however,
they become overheated and deliver much more heat than is
needed. This overproduction is an unresolved problem that
can even damage facilities.
it away. Invisible to the naked eye, this process would enable
the efficient absorption of solar energy while reducing the
impact of overheating and avoiding a surfeit of energy.
The Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory (LESO-PB)
is working on optimizing the transition temperature through
a “doping” process specially adapted to this material. The
material must behave like a “good” semiconductor at lower
temperatures and a “bad” metallic conductor at higher
temperatures. “With a coating of this material on a metallic
substrate, one can get a surface that has low thermal emissivity in a cold state and high thermal emissivity in a hot
one,” said Schüler.
A team of researchers led by Andreas Schüler developed a
smart material that changes its properties depending on the
temperature. If the thermal collector overheats in summer,
this new material would get rid of excess energy by radiating
20
Upside-down
lightning strikes
Upward lightning strikes start on
the ground and head skyward. These
discharges, which usually OCCUR at
the top of tall, slender structures,
pose a real risk for wind turbines.
With the growing
use of wind turbines,
ground-to-cloud
lightning strikes have
become a real concern.
Despite their power, these discharges do not damage communication antennas or skyscrapers. These metallic structures, equipped with lightning rods, conduct electricity
from the ground upward. Wind turbines, on the other hand,
are vulnerable. “In order to optimize wind capture, wind
turbines are commonly built in the mountains,” said Aleksandr Smorgonskii, a doctoral student at the Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory. “The combination of a tall
structure and high altitude corresponds to the conditions in
which ground-to-cloud lightning forms. And the blades are
the weak point. They are long and light – and thus fragile
– and made of non-conductive composite materials. As a
result, they are often damaged, if not destroyed, by the
extreme electrical charge.”
Smorgonskii analyzed the mechanisms underlying this type
of lightning strike so that wind farms could be designed to
minimize these risks. Among the most interesting figures
revealed by the study is the fact that, in one year, these
high structures can record up to 100 more upward than
downward strikes. It also appears that over 80% of groundto-cloud strikes occur independently of any existing thunderstorm activity.
Turning farm residues
into gold
To cut the cost of biofuels, their production
process can be enhanced to include additional
valuable biochemical compounds.
research
Biofuels still have a long way to go to become sustainable substitutes for fossil fuels. For
one, their price has to come down to make them competitive. One way to make the process
economically viable would be to process the biomass in biorefineries and transform it into
additional high-value chemicals. Researchers from EPFL demonstrated potential uses for
agricultural residues from Brazilian oil palm plantations and optimized the chemical process
for their transformation. Oil palm dates are pressed to extract oil, which is used for cooking,
cosmetics, and the production of biodiesel, among other things. The fibrous residues are typically discarded as waste, but in reality they are far from worthless: they can be used to make
at least 30 biochemical compounds. Biofuel production has not been free of controversy,
as the feedstock can potentially come into direct competition with food crops. But, say the
researchers, second generation biofuels can avoid the first issue by only using biomass from
non-arable land or agricultural residues that are commonly incinerated or left on the field.
21
Ozone bubbles
to eliminate wastewater
micropollution
Ozone treatment efficiently removes many micropollutants
contained in wastewater, but in some cases, it can lead to
the formation of toxic by-products. A new test determines
whether ozonation is a suitable technology for enhanced
wastewater treatment.
The widespread use of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and other chemically complex consumer
goods has led to the release of persistent and often harmful micropollutants into the
aquatic environment via municipal wastewater. In response, the Swiss Federal Agency for
the Environment called for about 100 wastewater treatment plants across Switzerland to
be upgraded, adding treatment steps specifically designed to eliminate micropollutants.
Ozone treatment is one viable candidate technology that is both easy to implement and
highly efficient. There are, however, certain compounds that can become more toxic when
treated with ozone. In a project headed by Urs von Gunten from the Laboratory for Water
Quality and Treatment (LTQE), a team of researchers from EPFL, ETH Zurich, and Eawag presented a test to evaluate the suitability of ozone treatment for urban wastewater taking
into account potential contributions from industrial sources. They developed a four-step
test procedure to assess whether the wastewater from a given plant can be safely treated
with ozone. Not only does it involve assessing the efficiency of micropollutant abatement
and the formation of oxidation byproducts, the test also includes a series of biological
assays to test the toxicity of the treated wastewater before and after treatment.
Analyzing images from
space reveals fluctuations
that sampling methods do
not detect.
22
Monitoring phytoplankton
growth in lakes from space
New research shows how satellite images can be used to improve
water quality monitoring campaigns in lakes and provide new
insights into local, transient biological processes such as
algal blooms.
With lakes and rivers under increasing pressure from human activities, campaigns to
monitor their general health have been set up around the globe. In Europe, surface waters
are analyzed periodically, but because collecting water samples is expensive and time consuming, lakes are often sampled at a single site only and once or twice per month at best,
potentially missing a number of important biological processes. An international team of
researchers used a decade’s worth of satellite images of Lake Geneva to demonstrate how
such images can complement and optimize on-the-ground monitoring.
Using ten years’ worth of satellite images, Isabel Kiefer from EPFL’s Physics of Aquatic
Systems Laboratory measured phytoplankton abundance in Lake Geneva. Analyzing the
images taken from 2002 to 2012 by the Envisat satellite from an altitude of almost 800km,
she was able to observe geographic and seasonal variability in the abundance of phytoplankton at the lake’s surface as well as localized, short-term fluctuations that traditional methods
are unable to capture. In the spring and summer, for instance, the Rhone inflow was observed
to have both the highest chlorophyll concentrations and the highest variability. In the autumn,
however, nutrients from the Rhone accumulate at a greater depth, resulting in phytoplankton
growth beyond the reach of satellites.
Going back in time
to locate short circuits
in power grids
EPFL researchers came up with a method
to determine the exact location of short
circuits in a power grid. Their approach
is ideal for large-scale grids with a
complex topology and for mixed networks
that combine high-voltage lines and
coaxial cables.
This technology offers two main advantages: it is faster
and more efficient than the conventional method. “We can
cover the entire power grid from one observation point,
which obviates the need to install numerous sensors over
hundreds of kilometers of power lines,” said Reza Razzaghi, a
researcher at EPFL’s Distributed Electrical Systems Laboratory.
The method was implemented in a chip-scale real-time simulator, providing a fast and inexpensive solution to the problem.
research
When a high-voltage power line is damaged by wind, ice or
a tree, the fault must be quickly located and repaired so as
to meet power quality requirements and avoid a cascade
blackout. In common practice, power companies locate the
fault by first identifying the section without power through
the use of sensors placed at regular intervals along the power
line. A technician must then go to that section and visually
inspect the line in order to find the fault. EPFL researchers
came up with a new method for precisely determining where
the short circuit takes place. This technology is based on the
theory of electromagnetic time reversal (EMTR), a process
already being used in acoustics and electromagnetics.
23
The ductility of magnesium
finally explained
Researchers at the Laboratory for Multiscale Mechanics
Modeling solved a decades-old scientific riddle.
“Magnesium has low ductility, that is, it cannot be stretched very much before it breaks,” said
William Curtin, the Director of the Institute of Materials. This makes it an unlikely candidate
for industrial applications, including in the automotive industry. But Curtin and Zhaoxuan Wu
were able to identify the atomistic origins of magnesium’s low ductility.
The real progress started with the development of a new description of the atomic interactions in magnesium. The new model accurately predicted the structure of the “c a” dislocation, which is essential for magnesium to flow easily.
“We were performing atomic simulations of the normal “c a” dislocation, and suddenly it
changed.” The atomic structure of the “c a” dislocation morphed into several possible geometries that locked it in place so that it could not move. The researchers’ work showed that
these structures are intrinsic to magnesium and that they inevitably form and negate the
ductility of magnesium.
“To make magnesium malleable, we must fight against the forces of nature,” said Wu. If
science does not yet have a miracle solution to prevent the phenomenon, he notes that the
dislocation process is considerably slowed by very low temperatures as well as by a number
of expensive alloys.
24
Eliminating
false alarms in
intensive care
Monitoring
critical blood
levels in real time
Two EPFL doctoral students created
algorithms capable of eliminating the
false alarms that pollute intensive
care units. They came up with the idea
of pairing electrocardiogram data
with optical waveform data of the
heartbeat.
For patients in intensive care,
it is vital to know how much glucose,
lactate and other substances are
in the blood. EPFL developed a
microfluidic device that allows
medical staff to monitor these levels
in real time and react more quickly.
Intensive care units are known for their incessant
symphony of alerts. This relentless noise can cause alarm
fatigue among staff, especially since 90% of the alarms are
false. False alarms are the result of several factors, such as
when electrodes placed on the patient move.
No larger than a pack of chewing gum, the prototype
created by EPFL’s Integrated Systems Laboratory (LSI)
contains some real miniaturized high-tech wonders. “We
embedded biosensors in it to measure several different
substances in the blood or blood serum, along with an array
of electronics to transmit the results in real time to a tablet
via Bluetooth,” said Sandro Carrara, an LSI scientist.
This very topic – reducing false arrhythmia alarms in the
ICU – was the focus of the 2015 Computing in Cardiology
conference. Sibylle Fallet and Sasan Yazdani, PhD students
at EPFL’s Applied Signal Processing Group (ASPG), took up
the challenge. Bradycardia, tachycardia, asystole, arrhythmia, fibrillation – they knew the medical jargon already, as
their research focused on signal analysis in cardiology.
The PhD students were given the electrocardiograms (EKG)
of 1,250 patients. Because the quality of the signals can
vary, detecting each beat is not easy even when using additional data, such as from a PPG (photoplethysmograph),
which uses light absorption technology to detect waves
produced by the body’s heartbeat.
Fallet and Yazdani developed two algorithms that work
together, each filling in the gaps left by the other. If electrical activity does not show up clearly on the electrocardiogram, the PPG waveform provides the missing data.
Thanks to this dual monitoring, 87% of the false alarms
were eliminated while real alerts were still detected. Their
work earned them first place in the competition.
Biosensors measure substances
in the blood, and the electronics
transmit the results in real time.
Capable of being connected to a drainage tube that’s already
in place, the new system is much less invasive than the
many monitoring devices it replaces. It keeps constant tabs
on the blood levels of five substances: metabolites (glucose,
lactate and bilirubin) and ions (calcium and potassium), all
of which indicate changes in the condition of intensive-care
patients. Up to 40 molecules could be monitored.
“Nowadays, several of these levels are measured periodically. But in some cases, any change in level calls for an
immediate response, something that is not possible with
existing systems,” said Carrara.
This progress towards more precise and effective medicine
was achieved under the Nano-Tera initiative, which is
financed by the Swiss government.
Graphene
multiplies the
power of light
A highly sensitive
graphene-based
sensor
Could graphene efficiently turn
light into electricity? Scientists
demonstrated that this material can
convert a single photon into multiple
electrons – the potential for future
photovoltaic devices is great.
Researchers at EPFL developed one of
the first applications for graphene: a
modifiable, highly accurate device to
detect nanomolecules.
Graphene has garnered tremendous popularity in recent
years due to its extraordinary strength and light weight.
It can be peeled off of graphite or generated by deposition
on various materials, which makes its production cost-effective. Studies have hinted that graphene can also be
used as a photovoltaic material, turning light into electricity. Using a cutting-edge spectroscopic method, scientists
at EPFL demonstrated that by absorbing a single photon,
graphene can generate multiple electrons that have enough
energy to drive an electrical current.
This is a challenging task as this conversion takes place
on a femto-second scale (10 -15 second, i.e. a quadrillionth of a second), too fast for conventional techniques
to keep apace. To overcome this obstacle, Jens Christian
Johannsen from Marco Grioni’s lab at EPFL, with colleagues
from Aarhus University and ELETTRA in Italy, employed the
sophisticated technique of ultrafast time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (trARPES). The scientists made the first-ever direct observation of graphene’s
photon-electron multiplication effect, which makes the
material a very promising building block for any device that
relies on converting light into electricity.
Scientists at EPFL’s Bionanophotonic Systems Laboratory
together with researchers from the Institute of Photonic
Sciences harnessed this crystal’s unique optical and electronic properties to develop a reconfigurable and highly
sensitive molecule sensor. This breakthrough overcomes
the limits of the conventional method, which is ineffective
at analyzing nanomolecules.
Graphene is able to focus the light on a precise spot on its
surface and “hear” the vibration of a nanometric molecule
that is attached to it. “We pattern nanostructures on the
graphene surface by bombarding it with electron beams,”
said Daniel Rodrigo. “When the light arrives, the electrons in
the graphene nanostructures oscillate. We can then detect
the nanometric structures.” This method also reveals the
nature of the bonds connecting the atoms and makes it
possible to determine the health status of a protein, for
example.
The researchers “tuned” the graphene to different frequencies, which is not possible with current sensors. “There
are many possible applications,” said Hatice Altug. “This
method should also work with polymers and numerous
other substances,” she added.
research
Graphene is a two-dimensional crystal
made up of carbon atoms in a
honeycomb structure.
25
Monitoring epilepsy
in the brain with
a wireless system
EPFL researchers are working on a new system
of wireless electrodes to accurately detect
the location of epilepsy in the brain.
50 million people around the world who suffer from epilepsy can be treated by anticonvulsant drugs. But a handful of patients do not respond to the standard treatment. More and
more of them are turning to surgery to give them back a normal life. But the current presurgical phase is complex and highly invasive. Patients undergo a cranial operation to have electrodes implanted on the surface of their cortex. Once the wound is closed, the patients must
remain in bed in intensive care for several weeks.
Researchers at EPFL are now developing a network of wireless microelectrodes that will
monitor patients’ brain activity with great precision. The new wireless method still requires a
cranial operation, but it spares patients the ordeal of staying in intensive care and extends
the monitoring time. The source of the epilepsy can also be identified more precisely.
Wireless
microelectrodes
monitor brain activity
very precisely without
confining patients to
their hospital bed.
26
With the new system, which consists of a network of electrodes, a microchip and an antenna,
the electric signals given off by the brain are detected and processed under the skin in a
miniaturized station. The internal device is externally powered by electromagnetic induction,
which allows the internal system to process a large amount of data and then transfer the
results to an external unit.
Claudio Pollo, a neurosurgeon in charge of epilepsy surgery at Bern University Hospital, notes
the potential applications of such a system. “We would be able to observe epileptogenesis at
the level of a few cells and develop innovative therapies.”
Gene therapy restores
hearing in deaf mice
American and Swiss researchers take a step toward treating
genetic hearing loss.
Using gene therapy, researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and
EPFL have restored hearing in mice with a genetic form of deafness. Their work could pave
the way for gene therapy in people with hearing loss caused by genetic mutations.
More than 70 different genes are known to cause deafness when mutated. Americans
Jeffrey Holt and Charles Askew, main authors, and Swiss colleagues Patrick Aebischer,
Bernard Schneider and Cylia Rochat, focused on a gene called TMC1. They chose TMC1
because it is a common cause of genetic deafness, accounting for 4 to 8 percent of cases,
and encodes a protein that plays a central role in hearing, helping convert sound into electrical signals that travel to the brain.
Holt believes that other forms of genetic deafness may also respond to the same gene
therapy strategy. Overall, severe to profound hearing loss in both ears affects 1 to 4
infants per 1,000 live births. “I can envision patients with deafness having their genome
sequenced and a tailored, precision medicine treatment injected into their ears to restore
hearing,” Holt explains.
Neuroprosthetics for
paralysis: a new spinal
cord implant
New therapies are on the horizon for paralyzed PEOPLE
THANKS TO THE E-DURA IMPLANT, WHICH CAN be applied directly
to the spinal cord without damaging it.
+
THE IMPLANT DELIVERS ELECTRICAL AND CHEMICAL
STIMULATIONS. AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS OF TRAINING,
THE PARALYZED RAT CAN WALK AGAIN.
Robot-assisted
rehab
Dura mater
The membrane
that protects the
nervous system
e-Dura implant
It sits below the
dura mater, directly
on the spine
Spinal cord
Medullary lesion
(lower-limb paralysis)
A feat of engineering: flexible,
elastic and full of technology.
The e-Dura implant was years in
the making. It is as flexible as living
tissue and is designed to be applied
directly to the spinal cord without
damaging it (by repeated rubbing).
Connectors
Stretchable,
cracked-gold
conducting
paths
Microfluidic
channel
to deliver
chemical
stimulation
Flexible
composite
nanoball
electrodes
made from
platinum/
silicone
Flexible
silicone
substrate
TWO MONTHS AFTER
THE LABORATORY RATS
RECEIVED THE IMPLANT:
e-Dura implant:
no damage is
visible on the
spinal cord.
Conventional implant:
the spinal cord is severely
damaged and its functions
are impeded.
research
EPFL scientists got paralyzed rats walking on their own again using a combination
of electrical and chemical stimulation. But applying this method to humans requires
implants that can be applied to the spinal cord for long periods of time. This is precisely
what the teams headed by Professors Stéphanie Lacour and Grégoire Courtine have
developed. Flexible and elastic, their implant is designed to be applied to the surface of
the brain or spinal cord. Not only did the implant prove to be biocompatible, but it also
allowed rats with spinal cord damage to walk on their own again.
27
Brain simulation
reaches key
milestone
The Human Brain Project made a
major contribution to science as
researchers completed a first digital
reconstruction of a piece of the
neocortex. The electrical behavior
of the virtual brain tissue matches
the behavior observed in a number
of experiments on the brain.
The Blue Brain Project is the simulation core of the
Human Brain Project, a Europe-wide initiative. Researchers released a digital reconstruction of the neocortical microcircuitry of the rat brain – a detailed computer
representation of about a third of a cubic millimeter of
brain tissue containing about 30,000 neurons connected
by nearly 40 million synapses.
28
The electrical behavior of this virtual tissue reproduced
a range of previous observations made in experiments
on the brain, which validate its biological accuracy. The
simulation also provides new insights into the functioning of the neocortex (see boxes). The project team published the full set of data and the digital reconstruction
on a public web portal, allowing researchers around the
world to use them.
This work was described in Cell, in one of the longest
articles ever published in the history of neuroscience.
The reconstruction represents the culmination of 20
years of biological experimentation that generated the
core dataset and 10 years of computational science work
that developed the algorithms and built the software
ecosystem required to digitally reconstruct and simulate
the tissue.
The study is a combined effort of 82 scientists and engineers from EPFL and institutions in Israel, Spain, Hungary,
the USA, China, Sweden, and the UK. The published article
marks a major milestone not only for the EPFL scientists,
but also for the pan-European Human Brain Project as
a whole.
The Swiss government has backed the Blue Brain Project
from the start, and its support helped legitimize the controversial approach. For EPFL, which is coordinating the
Human Brain Project, this is a key moment in the project’s contribution to science.
A neuron in a digital reconstruction
of neocortical microcircuitry
Simulations corroborated
by in vivo experiments
The simulations run by the researchers on virtual tissue mimicked previous biological experiments on
the brain. Although the digital reconstruction was not designed to reproduce any specific circuit phenomenon, a variety of experimental findings were reproduced in silico.
One simulation examined how different types of neurons respond when the fibers coming into the neocortex are stimulated. The researchers found that the responses of the different types of neurons in
the digital reconstruction were very similar to those that had been observed in the laboratory.
They also searched the reconstruction for sequences of activity in groups of three neurons (“triplets”),
which other researchers had previously observed in the brain. They found that the reconstruction did
indeed express the triplets.
Simulations: new insights, new theories
Simulations also helped the researchers develop new insights that had not yet been possible in biological experiments. For example, they uncovered an unexpected yet major role for calcium in some
of the brain’s most fundamental behaviors.
Eilif Muller, co-author of the article, describes how simulations produced bursts of synchronized
neural activity, similar to the activity found in sleep and very different from the asynchronous
activity observed in awake animals. “When we decreased the calcium levels to match those found in
awake animals and introduced the effect that this has on the synapses, the circuit behaved asynchronously, exactly like neural circuits in awake animals.” Simulations integrating this biological data
were enough to reveal the fundamental role of calcium in controlling brain states.
The researchers found that there are, in fact, numerous cellular and synaptic mechanisms that
can shift the circuit from one state of activity to another. This suggests that the circuit can change
its state to enable different computing capabilities. If this is true, it could lead to new ways of
studying information processing and memory mechanisms in normal brain states, such as wakefulness, drowsiness, sleep and some of the mechanisms in abnormal states such as epilepsy and
other brain disorders.
Lausanne, the new capital of brain research
The Brain Forum, held for the first time in March 2015 in Lausanne, brought together more than 1,000
participants – scientists and entrepreneurs from “brain initiatives” active all over the world.
Brain research is not just a matter of scientific curiosity, as it has significant socioeconomic stakes.
Neurodegenerative diseases impose a massive cost on society. Improving our understanding of them
is crucial, as it will allow for earlier and more effective treatment. This will require the skills of specialists from numerous fields, ranging from fundamental biology to computer science.
research
In addition, the researchers tested whether the digital reconstruction could reproduce the recent discovery that some neurons in the brain are closely synchronized with neighboring neurons (dubbed
“choristers”), while others operate independently from the group (“soloists”). The researchers found
choristers and soloists. They were also able to pinpoint the types of neurons involved and propose
cellular and synaptic mechanisms for these behaviors.
29
A new imaging technique
for brain diseases
Because of
our increasing
lifespan, diseases
like Parkinson’s,
Huntington’s and
Alzheimer’s are
on the rise.
Diseases like Alzheimer’s are caused when certain
proteins aggregate irreversibly. EPFL scientists
successfully distinguished between pathological
forms of protein aggregation.
Because of our increasing lifespan, diseases like Parkinson’s, Huntington’s
and Alzheimer’s are on the rise. They are caused when certain proteins
misfold and aggregate together, forming clumps that damage neurons in
the brain and spinal cord. This aggregation evolves progressively through
different forms, which could be the target for treating these diseases.
Until now, imaging techniques have not allowed researchers to distinguish
and study each form of aggregation separately. Recently, combining two
advanced imaging techniques, scientists in Giovanni Dietler’s lab successfully distinguished the different aggregation forms of a protein involved
in spinocerebellar ataxia, which affects motor control and coordination.
To the researchers’ surprise, this finding also confirmed previous
theories about protein misfolding that could not be tested due to the
limitations of available techniques. Their work could have a major impact
on pharmacological and technological approaches to protein aggregation,
and it may even lead to significant changes in the pharmaceutical treatment
of neurodegenerative diseases.
30
Observe brain networks
to diagnose Alzheimer’s
By analyzing blood flows in the brain,
a team of researchers was able
to observe the moment-to-moment
interactions between different
cerebral regions.
Researchers from EPFL and the University of Geneva revealed
the dynamics of activated brain regions. They combined a
new modeling technique and a medical imaging technique,
setting the stage for the early diagnosis of neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s.
The technique currently used to record variations in blood
flow in the brain is not highly accurate. “Imagine taking
pictures of a rainbow-colored windmill. With the old tech-
nique, the colors are fuzzy and run together,” said Dimitri
Van De Ville. “With our method we can clearly see the border
between each color.”
To identify the regions that work together, the tests were
done on healthy, non-stimulated subjects. The data is thus
not distorted by the stress or fatigue that a task could cause.
The researchers identified 13 main networks, i.e. those that
send out the strongest signals. On average, four of these
networks were active at the same time.
The next step consisted in using this technique to diagnose
neurological disorders. Alzheimer’s disease, for example,
shows deterioration in brain networks even when clinical
symptoms are undetectable or negligible.
Preventing
crystallization
to improve drug
efficiency
Widely administered to livestock,
tetracycline-based antibiotics have an
unexpected effect on the development
of many organisms and lead to serious
soil pollution.
EPFL researchers developed a
method to increase the solubility
of poorly soluble substances. This
breakthrough is of great interest to
the pharmaceutical industry.
An EPFL study shows that some antibiotics have unexpected consequences for the development of a wide
variety of organisms. Scientists observed significant
effects in concentrations similar to those found in the soils
in which our food crops are grown.
“Each year, pharmaceutical companies refuse many drugs
because of their poor solubility, which prevents their efficient uptake by the human body,” said Esther Amstad. In
collaboration with a team from Harvard University, she
developed a process that increases the solubility of medication. The goal is to create molecules that are amorphous
– i.e. that do not have a crystalline structure.
A study published in March 2015 in Cell Reports calls for
caution when using antibiotics from the tetracycline family.
The scientists, led by Norman Moullan and Laurent Mouchiroud, observed that these molecules have a significant
effect on mitochondria, the cell’s “powerhouse.”
“It’s not that surprising given that, historically, mitochondria
were bacteria that evolved within our cells,” says Mouchiroud. “However, the effects of antibiotics on their functioning hadn’t yet been studied in detail.”
The effects are considerable. The scientists carried out
growth tests on Arabidopsis thaliana, for example, a
common plant that’s frequently used in laboratory research.
After growing for a week in a normal substrate, the plants
were transplanted into soil with varying concentrations of
doxycycline. “Delays in growth, some quite severe, were
observed after a few days,” said Moullan. This was true
even at concentrations similar to what is found in some
agricultural soils, in which antibiotics administered through
animal feed are poorly absorbed and end up in manure.
The crystals are first dissolved in an ethanol solution. A
nanoparticle nebulizer creates tiny drops in a stream of air
moving at a speed of 600 meters per second. The drops are
sent through a 2cm long tube, as thin as a human hair, and
evaporate so fast that the molecules do not have time to
arrange in crystal form.
The technique to produce amorphous nanoparticles is not
yet ready to be industrialized, but the prospects are promising. The increase in drug solubility means that the body
will be able to absorb more active ingredients. This will
in turn reduce the amount of medication required to act
against a given disease.
Even at low
concentrations,
antibiotics have a
significant effect
on plant growth.
research
Antibiotics
found to have
unexpected
effects
31
Antidepressants
plus blood
thinners slow
brain cancer
The treatment forces
cancer cells to eat
themselves.
Stopping a single
enzyme could help
treat leukemia
EPFL scientists found that
combining antidepressants with
anticoagulants slows down brain
tumors (gliomas) in mice.
32
Gliomas are aggressive brain tumors arising from the
brain’s supporting glial cells. They account for about a third
of all brain tumors and hold the highest incidence and mortality rate among primary brain cancer patients, creating
an urgent need for effective treatments. Certain antidepressants already on the market could lower the risk of
gliomas, but there has been little evidence to support their
use in patients.
In a study designed and led by post-doctoral student
Ksenya Shchors, the scientists screened antidepressants in
combination with several commercially available medications
known to have similar effects on glioma cells. The screening revealed anticoagulants as the most likely ally. These
drugs interfere with the signaling activity of a receptor
expressed on platelets and coincidentally upregulated in
glioma cells. “It is exciting to envision that combining two
relatively inexpensive and non-toxic classes of generic
drugs holds promise to make a difference in the treatment
of patients with lethal brain cancer,” said Douglas Hanahan,
the director of ISREC. Following up on this, the team is now
making plans for early clinical trials.
EPFL scientists showed how
deactivating a single enzyme could
effectively eradicate an aggressive
form of leukemia. The same principle
could apply to other cancers as well.
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a rare type
of leukemia that is more common in older children and
teenagers. It affects white blood cells, which are an essential component of our immune system in fighting infection.
T-ALL onset is linked to microRNAs, small non-coding RNA
molecules that silence RNA and regulate gene expression.
Most MicroRNAs are generated with the help of the dicer1
enzyme, which has been the focus of research for treating
T-ALL. EPFL scientists showed that dicer1 is crucial for the
development and maintenance of T-ALL, and inhibiting it
can actually prevent the disease altogether.
The study is the first to conclusively demonstrate that
dicer1 plays a role in T-ALL and paves the way for a new set
of treatments for this and possibly other types of cancer.
However, when dealing with molecules that are so fundamental to the cell’s well-being, the challenge is to specifically target the cells of interest. “We can’t just go shutting
down dicer1 across the board,” explains Freddy Radtke.
“Otherwise we’ll end up killing healthy cells as well.” His lab
is now focused on overcoming this obstacle.
DNA sequencing improved
by slowing down
A new method improves the accuracy of
DNA sequencing up to a thousand times.
It uses nanopores to read individual
nucleotides and paves the way for
better – and cheaper – DNA sequencing.
research
DNA sequencing is a technique that can determine the exact
sequence of a DNA molecule. One of the most critical biological
and medical tools available today, it lies at the core of genome
analysis. Reading the exact makeup of genes, scientists can
detect mutations and even identify different organisms.
This powerful DNA sequencing method uses tiny, nano-sized
pores that read DNA as it passes through. However, nanopore
sequencing is prone to inaccuracy because DNA usually passes
through very fast.
Aleksandra Radenovic’s lab at EPFL’s Institute of Bioengineering overcame the problem of speed by using a viscous liquid
that slows down the passage of DNA by two to three orders of
magnitude. As a result, sequencing accuracy improves down
to single nucleotides. “In years to come, sequencing technology will definitely shift from research to clinics,” said Radenovic. “For that, we need rapid and affordable DNA sequencing
– and nanopore technology can deliver.”
Detecting in a breath
head and neck cancer
A portable device can detect the presence of certain types
of cancer in people’s breath.
A technology developed in part at EPFL can quickly identify the presence of throat or mouth
cancer by analyzing people’s breath. This new tool, equipped with extremely sensitive sensors,
was tested on patients and operates with a computer or even a mobile phone.
At SAMLAB in Neuchâtel, under the direction of Nico de Rooij, a team of researchers developed
very precise microsensors able to identify the distinct metabolism of cancer cells.
They managed to detect these nuances with the aid of a network of microsensors. Each
sensor is composed of a silicon disk 500 micrometers in diameter that is covered by a
polymer and suspended by four minuscule “bridges” with integrated piezoresistors. When
exposed to a gas, the polymer absorbs certain molecules and the disk changes shape. This
deformation is detected by the four piezoresistive bridges, which emit an electrical signal.
The trick is to use different polymers on each sensor in order to obtain a full reading of the
composition of the gas.
The device was tested on patients at the CHUV (the University Hospital of Lausanne) who were
either ill or had undergone surgical treatment for head and neck cancer. The results showed
that the sensors were highly effective. A Neuchâtel-based company has expressed interest in
marketing this patented technology.
The device detects the “signature” of cancer
cells in people’s breath.
33
A “laser scalpel”
for safer and more
precise incisions
Researchers at EPFL produced lasers with a wavelength
of two microns simply and inexpensively.
Two-micron lasers can be used to target water molecules during an operation and make
incisions in very small areas of tissue without penetrating deeply or causing bleeding. But
the sources currently used in labs are typically bulky and expensive. Researchers at EPFL’s
Photonic Systems Laboratory may be able to get around this problem using optical fiber.
Until recently, light had to be injected into an optical-fiber ring containing a gain region that
amplifies the signal. For optimal results, these systems include a costly component called an
isolator, which forces the light to travel in a single direction. But the EPFL researchers came
up with a thulium-doped fiber laser. “We plug in a kind of deviation that redirects the light
heading in the wrong direction, putting it back on track,” said Camille Brès.
This means no more need for the isolator, whose job is to stop light moving in the wrong
direction, sort of like a traffic cop. “We replaced the traffic cop with a detour,” said Svyatoslav Kharitonov. The new system not only proved to be less expensive than more traditional
ones, it also generated higher quality laser light.
34
Purging a virus from
organ transplants
EPFL scientists discovered the switch that can waken a
dormant cytomegalovirus, a dreadful pathogen in immunocompromised patients such as organ transplant recipients.
An EPFL study shows how human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) could be fought in high-risk
patients and purged from organs before a transplant operation. HCMV is an extremely
common herpes-family virus that infects people for life. Its symptoms are easily fought off
by a healthy immune system but can be devastating to individuals with defective immunity,
e.g. newborn babies, people with AIDS or those taking immunosuppressive drugs after receiving an organ transplant.
Didier Trono’s lab discovered a protein that switches HCMV from dormant to active. The
researchers were able to control this switch with a drug called chloroquine, which is usually
used against malaria. When they treated blood-making stem cells that contained dormant
HCMV with chloroquine, the virus reactivated and became exposed, opening the door to
maneuvers aimed at eliminating virus-infected cells. The switch can be controlled with
common drugs, opening a new strategy for purging the virus from organ transplants.
35
Kids and robots learn
to write together
Who is the teacher: the student or
the machine? By showing a robot how to
write letters, children improve their
writing skills and gain self-confidence.
The system is called CoWriter.
A little girl chooses the word “papa” on a tablet perched
in front of a humanoid robot. The robot then struggles to
reproduce the letters – especially the loop of the letter “p”.
The little girl writes out the word to show the robot how to
do it, without realizing that she is really the one improving
her writing skills. This new teaching tool, called CoWriter, was
developed by researchers at EPFL’s Computer-Human Interaction Lab in Learning and Instruction (Chili Lab).
The program is based on learning by teaching. According to
this recognized principle in pedagogy, when students pass on
what they know to their peers, they gain in self-esteem and
motivation. The researchers came up with the idea of making
a robot play the role of the peer who needs to be taught.
By showing the robot how to write
words, children improve their own
writing skills.
The researchers developed progressive writing algorithms and
programmed them in a robot, so it can clumsily draw words
on demand and then gradually improve. It draws on a vast
database of handwriting examples that allows it to reproduce
common errors made by young children while learning.
CoWriter, still in the prototype stage, has been used in
primary school lessons with some seventy students ranging
from six to eight years old, and then individually with ten
children having trouble learning how to write. So far the
system has been very well received.
To be credible, an avatar
must be perfect.
Creating an avatar
from a 3D selfie
Do you need a Hollywood studio to
generate a 3D duplicate of someone?
Not according to the EPFL researchers
who successfully condensed an
expensive and complex process
for use with a smartphone.
36
“We wanted the process to be fast and easy,” said
researcher Alexandru Ichim from the Computer Graphics
and Geometry Laboratory at EPFL. “All you have to do is
take a video of yourself and then snap a few more shots
to get facial expressions, and our algorithm does the rest.”
The user’s digital avatar can be displayed on a screen and
animated in real time with a video camera that follows the
person’s movements. Anyone with a video-capable smartphone can do it. But the avatar has to be nearly perfect
to be credible, with the right facial geometry, texture, color
and other details like face wrinkles. And faithfully recreating expressions required new facial-animation algorithms
to bring the avatar to life. The animation itself is also a
challenge, since everyone has their own way of smiling,
yawning and frowning.
The program’s designers see a number of possible uses in
the near future. These include gaming, virtual reality, online
discussions with other avatars, embedding in films, video
conferences, and even avatar therapy for people suffering
from schizophrenia.
More reliable
software thanks
to mathematical
demonstrations
Computer software can be tested using
tools borrowed from mathematicians
and their famous demonstrations.
A team from EPFL is breaking ground
in this area.
“The status quo on the software market needs to change,”
said Viktor Kuncak, associate professor in the Laboratory
for Automated Reasoning and Analysis, which is part of
the School of Computer and Communication Sciences. “All
too often, developers adopt a software patch strategy for
products that are already being sold on the market.” Yet
there are tools out there that can improve the reliability
of software before products reach consumers. These tools
are already widely used in hardware development. “Once
a microchip has been manufactured, it’s too late to fix an
error. And the later an error is detected, the more expensive it becomes to fix it.” Greater software reliability could
also bring clear benefits in many important areas, such as
aviation and medical equipment.
Kuncak and post-doctoral researcher Andrew Reynolds are
currently working on automatic software verification tools.
Just like a mathematical demonstration seeks to prove
that an affirmation may be true for a given set of values,
software verification is aimed at ensuring that a function
will not cause a crash or produce an outlier for the full
range of possible user inputs or actions.
In developing countries, where
farmers are exposed to fluctuations
in the price of their goods, social
networks could be used to anticipate
market ups and downs.
Fabian Brix, a Master’s student in information technology, worked on a forecasting system that analyzes data
gleaned from social networks. “The aim was to use geolocalized tweets to monitor price fluctuations for agricultural
goods,” said Brix. “We decided to focus on India because
this country maintains official statistics that enabled us
to validate our findings.” Together with a group of other
students in the same degree program, he set up a system
called Humanitas. It monitors tweets and detects those
containing information about food prices.
The project is on hold for the moment, but who knows?
Maybe one day farmers will be guided in their choice of
crops or decide when to sell their products on the basis of
data that helps them predict price fluctuations. “This type
of economic intelligence tool is already used by large companies,” said Brix. This is why access to certain databases
has become a veritable market in itself. Brix’s system would
allow more widespread access to such technology, particularly among farmers in developing countries.
The algorithm developed
by Julien Herzen optimizes
the wi-fi network.
Wi-fi and
neighborhood
conflicts: an
algorithm to
keep the peace
To overcome the problem of
interference between wireless
networks, a doctoral student at EPFL
developed an algorithm that selects
the best frequency band according
to the usage of neighboring networks.
The system increases the capacity of
the data path by up to seven times.
The quality of a wireless network can be improved by
organizing the passage of digital data through a router
in near real-time. This is accomplished by an algorithm
developed by an EPFL doctoral student: it tells the data
which route to follow.
Neighboring wireless networks often borrow the same
frequency bands and create caps, while other routes
remain free. Therein lies the genius of the system developed by Julien Herzen, a PhD student at EPFL’s Computer
Communications and Applications Laboratory. It automatically shares the channels between different users based
on needs at a specific moment, and this improves traffic
flow. Problems like slow downloading, ill-timed service cuts
and slow communication are thereby greatly reduced.
“It’s about compromise,” said Herzen. “It works best if
everyone is using it, but the impact is also positive for a
single user. The system optimizes the free frequency band
without interfering with your neighbors’ networks.” According to its designer, automating bandwidth sharing increases
the amount of data flow at a specific time by up to sevenfold. The algorithm, which is patent pending, could be easily
integrated into existing systems by manufacturers.
research
Social networks
to drive economic
forecasts
37
Detecting
extraterrestrial
life through motion
38
This system could be used
to test drugs or detect
extraterrestrial life.
EPFL scientists developed an extremely sensitive device that
can detect signs of life among various forms of organisms by
sensing the slightest motion. The chemical-free system can be
used to rapidly test the effect of antibiotics on bacteria or
even to search for life on other planets.
Looking for life on other planets is no easy task. It usually relies on chemical detection or
optical spectroscopy. But these techniques could be of limited use – possibly of none at all –
when it comes to exotic forms of extraterrestrial life. On the other hand, motion is a trait of
all life and can be used to identify microorganisms without any need of chemical foreknowledge. EPFL scientists developed an extremely sensitive yet simple motion detector that can
be built quite easily by adapting existing technology. Their system has proven its effectiveness in detecting living organisms such as bacteria, yeast and cancer cells. It could be used
for rapidly testing antibiotics, antitumor drugs and to discover extraterrestrial life.
The scientists successfully tested their novel system with isolated bacteria, yeast, mouse and
human cells. They even tested soil from the fields around the EPFL campus and water from
the nearby Sorge river. In each case, they were able to accurately detect and isolate vibration signatures from living organisms. When they applied antibiotics or poison, the motion
signals stopped.
Looking at the
earliest galaxies
research
Thanks to observations
made possible by the
Hubble Telescope,
astronomers looked back
in time and discovered
over 250 of the earliest
dwarf galaxies.
39
An international team of astronomers
discovered over 250 of the universe’s
earliest galaxies, which may have
contributed to making the universe
transparent.
Before light travelled across it, the universe was a dark place.
For about a billion years after the Big Bang, the cosmos was
cloaked in a thick fog of hydrogen gas that kept light trapped.
But as early stars began to form, neutral hydrogen began to
dissipate through a process called “reionization,” letting light
from the earliest galaxies escape and reach us. This event
played a key role in the formation of the universe as we know
it. Thanks to observations made possible by the Hubble Telescope, an international team of astronomers led by Hakim
Atek at EPFL’s Laboratory of Astrophysics looked back in time
and discovered over 250 of the earliest dwarf galaxies, which
existed just 600-900 million years after the Big Bang.
By observing ultraviolet light from the dwarf galaxies, the
astronomers were able to calculate if these were in fact
some of the galaxies involved in reionizing hydrogen. The
team determined, for the first time and with a good degree
of confidence, that they did indeed play a major role. This
research reveals the breathtaking potential of the Hubble
Frontier Fields program, which explores the most distant
regions of space through the effects of gravitational lensing
around six different galaxy clusters. Other fascinating discoveries are expected.
tech transfer
Adrienne Corboud Fumagalli
Vice president for Innovation
and technology transfer
“Technology transfer is
thriving at EPFL. In just
one decade, the school
managed to double its
annual patent filings.”
EPFL researchers use the electrical properties
of a scanning electron microscope to modify
the size of ultrathin quartz capillary tubes.
A good researcher does not necessarily make a good
entrepreneur. How many inventions and groundbreaking
ideas are gathering dust on a shelf for not having been
put into business-savvy hands, capable of transforming a
lab prototype into a marketable product? EPFL is intent on
boosting technology transfer to get its researchers’ innovations to the marketplace. These innovations contribute
to the competitiveness of our companies – from EPFL
spin-offs that may take root and create new jobs to multinationals that set up shop on campus or near our R&D
centers in order to draw on our dynamic.
Technology transfer is thriving at EPFL. In just one decade,
the school managed to double its annual patent filings.
And in 2015, we celebrated our 1,500th invention since the
Technology Transfer Office was created 20 years ago.
Our strength in this area combined with our creativity
have an impact on industry and contribute to the appeal
of EPFL Innovation Park. The Park hosts over 100 startups, multinationals with longstanding ties to EPFL – such
as Logitech – and others that recognized the growth
potential in Lausanne – including Cisco, Siemens and Intel.
Close to 2,000 people work at Innovation Park, where science-based innovation is the name of the game.
Our success shows that in times of economic crisis and
a strong franc, tax incentives are not the only thing that
brings foreign companies to Switzerland. These companies
decide to invest in Switzerland when they see the advantageous environment awaiting them, and the country can
count on its universities and its federal institutes of technology in this regard.
For the Vice Presidency for Innovation and Technology
Transfer, which I am honored to head, this is a genuine
source of pride. This shift shows that researchers are
becoming increasingly attuned to the issue of technology
transfer, that tech companies know about us and that our
efforts have paid off.
Fighting
counterfeiting
with QR codes
QR security codes developed by the
start-up ScanTrust can be used to
authenticate and locate products. The
company developed the new tool in the
fight against counterfeiting. It works
by detecting a loss of quality when
codes are copied.
42
The system developed by ScanTrust relies on a special QR
code: at its center is a unique array of several thousand
pixels. At this level of precision, any attempt to copy the
code results in a significant loss of information. An irreversible degradation of the original image is caused by
toner that diffuses randomly into the paper. Authentication of these codes requires a smartphone application that
was also developed by ScanTrust. The app uses an algorithm to automatically search for differences between the
original and copies. A software platform allows brands to
generate, manage and analyze the codes and to protect
their products independently and at minimal cost. The
codes created by the start-up, which are part of the new
generation of security systems, enable product traceability. Each code is linked to a unique number and registered
on a platform.
The company raised 1.2 million francs in 2015 in a round of
funding led by AngelVest Group and SOS Ventures with the
involvement of strategic partners in the packaging industry
and select angel investors.
The system
developed
by ScanTrust
uses a special
QR code.
Web-based
services that
store too much
personal data
The permissions requested by some
apps often give them access to more
information in our photos, videos and
PDF files than users are aware of. EPFL
researchers came up with a tool to
better track and manage these risks.
What personal data are we putting on the web in the era of
the cloud? Often much more than we imagine. That is what
researchers at EPFL’s Distributed Information Systems Laboratory (LSIR) discovered. They developed a tool, PrivySeal,
that informs users exactly what data they are agreeing to
share when they accept the permissions of various apps
available on the internet. Popular websites like Google Drive,
Dropbox and OneDrive generally have strict privacy rules.
The only catch is that these websites are often used as a
platform for related apps.
Letting an app touch up a photo, for example, can open
the door to the users’ entire photo collection and to the
sometimes detailed date- and location-related information tagged to the photos. The researchers analyzed more
than seventy apps that are offered on two cloud platforms, Google Drive and Dropbox. The results showed that
nearly two thirds of them had this type of privacy problem.
The web-based tool developed by the researchers is now
publicly accessible at privyseal.epfl.ch.
Gimball takes off
in the Middle East
At the start of 2015, Flyability was awarded
a million dollars for its Gimball drone. Its
use in rescue missions won over the jury in a
competition held in the United Arab Emirates.
Inspired by insects, the Gimball is not afraid of running into things.
It bounces off obstacles thanks to a small spherical cage that surrounds it. “The body of the robot remains in equilibrium after a collision so that it can maintain its trajectory,” said Adrien Briod, the
CTO of the company, which is based at EPFL’s Innovation Park. “It can
be sent to hard-to-reach locations during a disaster where it could,
for example, film the area with its onboard camera and provide valuable
information to rescuers.” Flyability was founded in 2014 as a spin-off of
the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics.
Gimball won
over the jury of
the Drones for
Good Award.
The prize was awarded in the presence of the Emir of Dubai. CEO Patrick Thévoz
said that the money will be used to market the drone.
India, Brazil and
Switzerland: an introduction
to entrepreneurship
A training program for up-and-coming
entrepreneurs set up by venturelab
and EPFL’s Cooperation & Development
Center (CODEV) gives some 30 scientists
from top-tier research institutes
in Brazil, India and Switzerland the
opportunity to assess the marketability
of their innovations, develop
their business acumen and do some
networking.
Bridging three continents, the Academy-Industry Training
(AIT) Camps aim to help young scientists move the results
of their research from the laboratory to the market. For
the second year in a row, the AIT Camp sent 16 Master’s
students, PhD candidates and researchers from Swiss universities and research institutes to Rio in the fall of 2015. A
trip to Bangalore took place in February 2016. The objective?
To provide participants with a weeklong immersion alongside 15 local colleagues during which they can meet investors, innovation specialists, potential manufacturing partners
and local researchers.
The participants from the three countries gathered in
Switzerland in spring 2016 for workshops, visits to companies
at different stages of development – from start-ups to multinationals – and pitch meetings with an informed audience.
These future entrepreneurs will have ample opportunity to
gather advice, improve how they present their venture and,
of course, expand their network of contacts.
Tech transfer
The drone developed by the start-up Flyability conquered the jury of
the Drones for Good Award. Capable of entering tight spaces and
flying safely near humans, it won the million-dollar competition
launched by the government of the United Arab Emirates. Around
forty finalists in three categories presented their projects, which
use new technologies for social purposes, to an international panel
of judges.
43
INNOVATION PARK IN 3D
Intel Corporation
ViaSat Antenna Systems
VICE PRESIDENCY FOR
INNOVATION AND
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
EPFL Innovation
Park is devoted
to technology
transfer
44
LOGITECH
EPFL Innovation Park, which was
created 25 years ago and originally
called Scientific Park, provides space
for both domestic and international
companies at EPFL’s campus. The aim is
to promote collaborations with EPFL
researchers and the transfer of
technology.
These 13 buildings, cubic or rectangular in shape, form
an elegant skyline on the western side of the EPFL
campus. This decidedly modern universe provides space
to around 20 large companies like the Nestlé Institute of
Health Sciences, Logitech, Cisco, Debiopharm and, most
recently, Intel, along with more than 100 start-ups. The
1,900 people who work there bring together expertise in
a wide range of fields, including biotechnology, computer
science, microengineering, nanotechnology and information and communication technologies, to name but a few.
The companies are able to collaborate with the school’s
labs and researchers thanks to this proximity. This innovation-conducive environment is fertile ground for
tomorrow’s technology. And the bright ideas that come
out of EPFL’s labs can be quickly put to use by companies and industries.
Cisco
Elca
PSA Peugeot
Citroën
Siemens
Healthcare
Valtronic
EPFL’s Vice Presidency for Innovation and Technology
Transfer (VPIV), which also sits in the Innovation Park,
supports this process by putting companies in touch with
the right labs and helping them secure external financing
(from the CTI and Europe, in particular) and handle other
needs, like acquiring patents.
BUILDINGS A, B, C, D, L
Start-up incubator
Axa Technology Services
Bühler
Merck Institute for
Pharmacometrics
NESTLÉ INSTITUTE
OF HEALTH SCIENCES
Texas Instruments
CREDIT SUISSE
Voisin Consulting
DEBIOPHARM
NESTLÉ INSTITUTE
OF HEALTH SCIENCES
NITTO
local.ch | search.ch
Tech transfer
Namiki Precision
of Europe
45
Intel acquires EPFL spin-offs and
opens an office at Innovation Park
Intel Corporation set up shop on the EPFL campus at
the start of the year. Its arrival coincided with the
acquisition of two EPFL spin-offs, Composyt Light
Lab and Lemoptix.
Two EPFL start-ups, Composyt Light Lab and Lemoptix,
were acquired by Intel Corporation. They joined the New
Devices division of the US microchip giant, but they will
remain at EPFL’s Innovation Park.
BRUKER BIOSPIN
Composyt Light Lab, which came out of the Laboratory
of Applied Photonics Devices, developed a system of
connected eyeglasses. The see-through display system,
which is compatible with all types of glasses, attracted
Intel’s attention during a young entrepreneurs program
organized by Venture Kick in the United States.
Lemoptix was founded in 2008 by Nicolas Abelé, Marco
Boella, Faouzi Khechana and Lucio Kilcher. They came
up with a laser projector half the size of a sugar cube.
The system is able to project information and images in
color on any surface. It works using a tiny mirror, less
than a millimeter in diameter, that can reflect red, green
and blue laser lights. The device could be incorporated
into a range of applications, such as mobile phones, 3D
scanners, and heads-up displays in cars. Lemoptix was
already working with Composyt Light Lab on virtual-reality glasses before the deal with Intel.
Intel plans to put these innovations to use in portable
technologies.
46
Researchers in Carlotta Guiducci’s lab are
developing a new technique to detect medicines.
New method for measuring
the concentration of medicines
in the blood
Researchers at EPFL came up with a quick and portable new device for measuring
the amount of medicinal drugs in blood.
For a treatment to be most effective, the dosage of medicines needs to be customized. But how can we know how
much of the active ingredient of a medicine is circulating in a
patient’s blood? The first step consists in identifying the concentration of medicines in the body, which is no mean feat.
Researchers in Carlotta Guiducci’s lab at EPFL developed a
rapid and low-cost method to produce DNA fragments that
are effective at capturing medicinal drugs in a blood sample.
The researchers’ approach is to attach DNA fragments –
aptamers – to magnetic beads. When the target molecule
approaches, the most receptive fragments jump from the
bead to the molecule. The best fragments are then purified,
multiplied and tested again, in order to eventually select the
top performer.
Working with the CHUV (the University Hospital of Lausanne),
the researchers tested their aptamers using a compact new
optical detection method. For their test, they chose to detect
an antibiotic called tobramycin. According to Guiducci: “The
concentration of tobramycin that we determined using our
method corresponded to clinical requirements.”
The researchers’ turnkey technique for detecting medicinal
substances in line with clinical requirements is fast, inexpensive and compact.
The miniature lab is a quick, easy and
inexpensive way to monitor various
health parameters. The device – a
Swiss army knife of medical tests – was
created by Qloudlab, an EPFL spin-off,
and is undergoing certification.
All it takes to create a pocket-sized lab is a clever combination of embedded electronics, modular sensors and a
mobile app. The product, sleek in design, fits in the palm of
one hand. And like a Swiss army knife, it can be adapted
to meet specific needs. “Thanks to interchangeable analytical modules, it will eventually be able to run the gamut
of blood, urine and saliva tests and measure a number of
parameters,” said Arthur Queval, the founder of Qloudlab.
The first test panel, targeting bad cholesterol, is being evaluated at the Clinical Trial Unit at the CHUV (the University
Hospital of Lausanne). A single drop of blood is enough to
generate results, which are transferred via Bluetooth to
a mobile phone or tablet using an app specially designed
for patients. This device will allow patients to check the
progress of their treatment, something that is not offered
by other handheld labs.
Patients can also have the data automatically sent to their
treating physician through a confidential medical data
server. “Our product will improve patients’ quality of life
by providing doctors – and the patients themselves – with
useful analytical and communication tools,” said Queval.
The subcutaneous biosensor chip
developed at EPFL is powered by a patch
placed on the surface of your skin and
communicates with your mobile phone.
The chip monitors levels of glucose,
cholesterol and a number of drugs.
The future of medicine lies in ever greater precision, not
only when it comes to diagnosis but also drug dosage. The
blood work that medical staff rely on is only indicative of the
moment the blood was drawn before it undergoes hours –
or even days – of analysis. The ability to constantly measure
molecule concentrations would therefore be a real boon.
“We created the world’s first chip capable of measuring
not just pH and temperature, but also metabolism-related
molecules like glucose, lactate and cholesterol, as well as
drugs,” said Sandro Carrara, from the Integrated Systems
Laboratory (LSI). A group of electrochemical sensors works
with or without enzymes, which means the device can react
to a wide range of compounds, and it can do so for several
days or even weeks.
This one centimeter square device contains three main
components: a circuit with six sensors, a control unit
that analyzes incoming signals, and a radio transmission
module. It also has an induction coil that draws power from
an external battery attached to the skin by a patch. “A
simple plaster holds together the battery, the coil and a
Bluetooth module used to send the results immediately to
a mobile phone,” said Carrara.
The mini lab developed by Qloudlab can test
things like cholesterol levels.
Tech transfer
Pocket-sized
medical lab tested
at the CHUV
A chip placed
under the skin
for more precise
medicine
47
A first in Switzerland: autonomous
shuttles in the heart of the city
Two driverless vehicles will crisscross
the old town of Sion starting in spring
2016. A joint initiative by EPFL, the
start-up Bestmile and the public
bus operator Postbus.
Residents and visitors in the small town of Sion in the
Canton of Valais may be called on to test a new mode of
public transportation in 2016: the driverless shuttle. For
the first time in Switzerland, “smart” vehicles will circulate
on public roads. The project is sponsored by PostBus, the
leading public bus operator in the country. The eventual goal
is to expand the operator’s public-transportation services,
especially in outlying regions. EPFL, working together with
the start-up BestMile, will develop the system needed to
ensure the expanded service works flawlessly and safely,
both for the operator and the users.
The technology to operate vehicles without a steering wheel
and pedals on public roads exists. But such vehicles are not
yet capable of operating within the conventional public
transport system. The researchers’ task is thus to develop
a fleet-management system able to handle the many
situations that autonomous vehicles could encounter. The
vehicles must learn to communicate with each other and
with others on the road so that they can adjust their speed
appropriately and determine right of way. At the same time,
a system will be needed to manage the specific needs of
passengers, such as on-demand service, booking a ride in
advance and flexible routes.
48
Click & ride shuttles
A free app was developed allowing users to order up a
ride and track the location of autonomous vehicles in
real time on campus.
Real-world testing
on EPFL’s campus
In a taste of the future, driverless vehicles
roamed the EPFL campus for more than four months.
The shuttles initially followed a set schedule all over EPFL.
Then, at the end of July, BestMile launched a smartphone
app for shuttle users to request a driverless ride just as
easily as they summon an elevator.
Research at EPFL is not confined to the labs: the campus
itself is also a site of experimentation. From April to
August 2015, autonomous shuttles crisscrossed the
campus as part of the European CityMobil2 project. They
operated without a driver but were monitored by an
attendant, a human backstop for a developing technology.
Remarkably simple, the free app uses GPS to find your
position and direct you to the closest shuttle stop. With a
tap of your finger, you ask the shuttle to meet you there
or you inform it of your starting point and destination.
Operating in the cloud, BestMile manages the waiting list
and optimizes the driverless shuttle routes in order to
meet users’ needs.
In the end, around 7,000 people were curious enough to
ride the shuttles over a mapped-out route. The experience
was reminiscent of the days when people wanted to try
out an elevator to see how it worked.
All-terrain robot
for nuclear
decommissioning
Technis, an EPFL start-up, is bringing
augmented reality to the tennis court.
Their newly developed technology
could be used for other sports in
the future.
How would you like to play tennis on a connected court that
displays surface impacts, analyzes your game and offers
interactive challenges to you and your opponent? That’s
just what Technis, an EPFL spin-off, came up with, earning
them the Swiss Startups Award 2015 and the second stage
of Venture Kick 2015. “Our goal was to develop a useful
tool for everyday use that didn’t require the player to buy
any special accessories,” said Naïk Londono, one of the
founders of Technis and a former pro player.
The company’s technology, which is embedded in the court
surface, does not just give the players their performance
statistics – such as foot impact and faults – it also brings
augmented reality to the court. Players can choose goals
or challenges, such as hitting virtual targets on the court
with the ball. They can also size up their game against their
opponents or the pros.
This is a small revolution in a sport where – apart from
rackets and shoes – technological advances are a rarity.
The EPFL start-up will run pilot tests on a tennis court
together with interested partners before marketing its
product. Several clubs have already expressed an interest
in the technology, which could also be adapted for use with
other sports in the future.
The device is surprisingly
adaptable thanks to its
unique mechanical design.
ROVéo is a robot whose unique
four-wheel design allows it to
climb over obstacles up to two
thirds its height. It could be used
for tasks like decommissioning
nuclear power plants.
Steps, rubble and rocks: nothing seems to stop ROVéo,
whose limbs adapt to the obstacles they encounter. This
rolling robot can get past objects up to about two thirds
of its height without breaking stride.
“Our prototype was built in six months by a talented
Master’s student using only sketches and texts written
for the patent filing,” said Lucian Cucu, one of Rovenso’s co-founders. The company is preparing to raise a half
million francs, in part to complete a 500kg model based on
a similar underlying mechanism. Its properties will be the
same, including the ability to negotiate obstacles that are
one and a half times as high as the robot’s ground clearance, i.e. the distance between its chassis and the ground.
The heavyweight version will also come equipped with a
robotic arm for remote handling operations. The robot’s
main vocation, in the view of its designers, will be to conduct
dangerous operations in hard-to-reach places, such as
nuclear decommissioning and emergency response.
Tech transfer
Playing tennis
on a smart court
49
outlook
André Schneider
Vice president for
Resources and infrastructure
“In order to achieve our
missions of teaching, research
and technology transfer,
we must be able to adapt
and improve our resources
and infrastructures.”
16 April 2015 – Four presidents on
EPFL’s campus (see page 51).
In order to achieve our missions of teaching, research
and technology transfer, we must be able to adapt and
improve our resources and infrastructures. The teaching
profession is undergoing profound change with the
introduction of MOOCs, allowing us to focus on practical lab sessions – for this reason we created the Discovery Learning Labs. And because our school has several
campuses, we need to deliver services to the various
cantons. In 2015, we moved several labs to our campus
in Sion, while at the other end of the lake in Geneva,
Campus Biotech held an open house to mark its inauguration, in a ceremony attended by Federal Councillor
Johann Schneider-Ammann.
At our Ecublens campus, one focus of our efforts has
been our transport policy. As a federal institution, we are
required to implement the Swiss government’s “exemplary in energy” policy by 2020. To do this, we teamed up
with the Canton of Vaud, major public transport companies and the University of Lausanne to set up a platform
for discussing how to expand Vaud’s public transport
services. Our desire to promote sustainable development
also led us to launch Act for Change, an interactive initiative aimed at raising awareness within the EPFL community of the challenges of sustainable development
through simple on-campus activities and events.
The energy transition is also high on our agenda.
Together with Romande Energie, we recently inaugurated Switzerland’s largest solar park covering 15,500m 2
of campus roofing. We also started up a pilot system for
storing and managing electrical power, which received
extensive co-financing from the Canton of Vaud. The
system relies on an industrial-capacity battery developed by Vaud-based company Leclanché. It is now connected to the Romande Energie-EPFL solar park and will
be used to conduct real-world tests on the performance
of a power grid that is supplied by solar panels.
Johann Schneider-Ammann, Hansjörg Wyss
and Ernesto Bertarelli attended the open house
at Campus Biotech.
Campus Biotech
opens in Geneva
52
On 22 May, Campus Biotech was
inaugurated by a consortium made
up of the University of Geneva
(UNIGE), EPFL, the Bertarelli family
and Hansjörg Wyss, in the presence
of federal, cantonal and communal
authorities and guests from the
scientific, academic and business
worlds.
Located in the Sécheron neighborhood of Geneva, Campus
Biotech places the Lake Geneva region at the forefront of
global research in the neurosciences and bioengineering.
Covering over 40,000m2, this unique center of excellence in
Europe welcomes many academic and industrial partners,
including teams from EPFL, UNIGE, Geneva University Hospitals, the Wyss Centre for Bio- and Neuro-Engineering, the
Human Brain Project, the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
and the School of Landscaping, Engineering and Architecture.
This new ecosystem is based on an interdisciplinary science-based approach aimed at stimulating innovation in
the life sciences. Its goal is to focus on pure science and its
real-life applications through products that will have a direct
impact on society and the world. It is hoped that Campus
Biotech will spark a new dynamic and encourage further
investments in the economy and the sciences.
Iranian nuclear
negotiations:
framework
agreement
announced on
the EPFL campus
It was on the EPFL campus that the 5+1
group (the United States, Russia, China,
France, the UK and Germany) publicly
announced the outcome of their
negotiations ON 16 APRIL 2015.
The question was simple enough: could EPFL host the
press conference informing the world of an agreement on
Iran’s nuclear program just two days later? The devil was
in the details. The task consisted in welcoming the delegations and putting in place the necessary infrastructure for a press conference for 400 journalists – including
several dozen television networks – which was to be broadcast live around the world, at who knows what hour of the
day or night. This meant maximum security, a beefed-up
IT network to meet the needs of the media, and last-minute changes requested by the delegations. Finally, early in
the evening of Thursday, 2 April, at EPFL’s Rolex Learning
Center, the Iranian, US, French, German, Russian and
Chinese delegations announced the framework agreement.
This event provided an opportunity for both EPFL and Switzerland to forge new ties with important political, scientific and academic figures, setting the stage for future
contacts. Our international openness was reaffirmed,
as was our ability to serve as an independent platform,
a place where the freedom of thought and the ability to
speak freely at key moments, including by heads of state,
are protected.
ENERGYPOLIS
CAMPUS focuses
energies on
Valais
EPFL and l’X sign
an agreement
during a French
state visit
In 2015, several laboratories moved
to EPFL’s site in the Canton of Valais.
The École Polytechnique (l’X) and
EPFL signed an agreement to expand
cooperation in the fields of education,
research, entrepreneurship and
innovation.
Six of them are part of EPFL’s Institute of Chemical Sciences
and Engineering (School of Basic Sciences):
- The Laboratory of Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, headed by Hubert Girault, developed a facility for
storing electricity and producing hydrogen, in Martigny.
- The Laboratory of Molecular Simulation, run by Berend
Smit, is developing systems for storing greenhouse gases
like methane and carbon dioxide.
- The Group for Molecular Engineering of Functional Materials, led by Mohammad Nazeerudin, is involved in photovoltaic detectors based on perovskite.
- The Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Materials, headed
by Wendy Queen, is developing methods of separating
gases.
- The Laboratory of Materials for Renewable Energy, run by
Andreas Züttel, focuses on the interaction between gases
and material surfaces.
- The Laboratory of Nanochemistry for Energy, under Raffaella Buonsanti, seeks to incorporate nanocrystals into
energy-producing systems.
Energypolis Campus also includes: François Maréchal’s group,
which designs industrial processes and energy systems, Jan
van Herle’s group, which is working on fuel cells, and the Risk
Analytics and Optimization Chair headed by Daniel Kuhn. A
number of research units within EPFL’s Center for Neuroprosthetics are based at Valais Cantonal Hospital and represent
Energypolis Campus’s bio-health platform.
Under the terms of the agreement, l’X joined the Network
of Excellence in Engineering Sciences of the French-speaking Community (RESCIF) in October 2015. The network,
which was established in 2010 at the Francophonie Summit
in Montreux on the initiative of EPFL and the Swiss government, brings together 14 French-language technological
universities (from Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Ghana, Haiti, Lebanon,
Morocco, Senegal, Switzerland, Togo and Vietnam). Acting
through RESCIF, the two universities will contribute to
technological education and innovation, particularly in
French-speaking emerging countries, through MOOCs.
In terms of education, the agreement aims to facilitate the
creation of dual-degree curricula between the two universities and the exchange of engineering students. In the field
of research, it will further strengthen cooperation between
l’X and EPFL. The two universities also want to align their
activities in support of entrepreneurship and technological
innovation in order to encourage the development of startups, a key strategic priority for both l’X and EPFL.
outlook
EPFL and the Ecole Polytechnique signed
a cooperation agreement in the presence
of French President François Hollande and
Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga.
53
EPFL IS A GLOBAL
CAMPUS…
54
EPFL uses its international network
to help promote Switzerland as a
hotbed of talent and to enable its
researchers and students around
the world to work on projects and
participate in networks of excellence.
EPFL’s students have exchange opportunities around the
world thanks to the school’s agreements with more than
200 carefully selected academic partners. EPFL is also a
member of several academic networks, such as EuroTech,
RESCIF, CLUSTER and CESAER, which promote scientific collaboration and the exchange of students and researchers.
RESCIF (the Network of Excellence in Engineering Sciences
of the French-speaking Community) includes the French
École polytechnique (see page 51); the Blue Brain and
Human Brain Project, in the field of neuroscience, is made
up of 24 countries and 111 associated labs (see pages
26-27); and the Swiss Plasma Center is involved in the
international project ITER (see page 56).
Virtual campus
M o re t h a n o n e m i l l i o n pe o pl e h a v e
n o w s i gn e d u p f o r E P F L’ s M OO C s
( s e e pa ge 8 ).
outlook
55
…WITH LOCAL
ROOTS
NEUCHÂTEL: MICROCITY
Micro- and nanotechnology
GENEVA:
CAMPUS BIOTECH
Wyss Center for Bioand Neuro-Engineering,
Human Brain Project,
Center for Neuroprosthetics
FRIBOURG: SMART LIVING LAB
Technology, construction and
sustainable architecture
LAUSANNE
SION:
ENERGYPOLIS
CAMPUS
Industrial energy,
green chemistry;
biotechnology,
bioengineering
EPFL’s new science
festival was devoted
to the theme of energy.
56
Scientastic shows
strong public interest
in the sciences
EPFL’s new science festival drew more than 6,000 visitors
to the school’s campus in Ecublens last November. Most of the
13 workshops were fully booked days in advance. The future
looks bright for this event.
Scientastic, EPFL’s new science festival, focused on the theme of energy in this, its inaugural
year. The event attracted more than 6,000 visitors. They streamed to the school’s Ecublens
campus where they were met by 250 EPFL staff members and students. The visitors made
the rounds of the festival, checking out the laboratories, taking part in the workshops and
attending the conferences, while children joined in a treasure hunt, collecting the various
parts of a solar gadget that they could assemble and take home. Visitors were able to quench
their thirst for knowledge at the “How it works” space, where an interactive exhibition staffed
by scientists meant that everyone found answers to all their questions.
Scientastic follows in the footsteps of the Robotics Festival, an event that regularly drew
large crowds to EPFL. Like its forebear, Scientastic organizes edifying activities for the public
– young and old alike – but covers a broader range of topics and interests. The end goal
remains the same: to inform the wider public of social issues that scientific research may be
able to help solve, as well as to encourage a career in the sciences. “Our country’s brain power
is still our number one resource, and we need to cultivate it,” said Farnaz Moser.
EPFL tuberculosis nonprofit receives major grant
Innovative Medicines for Tuberculosis (iM4TB), an EPFL spin-off,
was awarded nearly 750,000 dollars by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation in support of a breakthrough tuberculosis drug.
In 2013, an estimated nine million people developed tuberculosis, of whom 360,000 were
HIV-positive. Tuberculosis or related complications proved fatal for another 1.2 million. Consequently, the disease now ranks as the eighth cause of death in developing countries. In
other words, a major challenge for iM4TB, an EPFL spin-off, and its promising new drug. Currently in preclinical testing, the drug was given a boost by a grant from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation.
The drug being developed by iM4TB is a new antibiotic, PBTZ169. It kills drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria and has the potential to shorten therapy. It works by destroying the bacterium’s cell wall, which shields it against the immune system and antibiotics. In vivo studies have
shown PBTZ169 to be more effective and faster-acting than drugs currently recommended
by the World Health Organization.
outlook
The award from the Gates Foundation will help move PBTZ169 into human trials, which are
likely to start soon in collaboration with the CHUV (the University Hospital of Lausanne).
57
Vaud Canton, EPFL, Leclanché
and Romande Energie
inaugurated an innovative
electricity storage system
A system for managing and storing
energy, developed by EPFL’s Distributed
Electrical Systems Laboratory,
was inaugurated at EPFL’s campus.
The experimental storage system, which is the size of a
shipping container, is connected to the Romande Energie-EPFL solar park, one of the largest in French-speaking
Switzerland. Researchers will use it to study new, industrial-scale solutions for using renewable energies (especially
solar energy) and feeding them into the power grid, as part
of the EPFL Smart Grid project.
The system, which received extensive co-financing from the
Canton of Vaud, is built around an industrial-capacity battery
developed by Vaud-based company Leclanché. Because of its
link to the Romande Energie-EPFL solar park, it can be used to
conduct real-world tests on the behavior of a power grid that
is fed electricity from solar panels. The system is unique for
its underlying technology: it is based on high-performance
lithium-ion titanate cells manufactured by Leclanché. The
life of these cells is around 15,000 charge-discharge cycles,
while 3,000 is more common. In addition, the cells come with
ceramic separators, patented by Leclanché, which are meant
to maximize safety. It is a fully integrated solution comprising
storage and energy-conversion modules as well as software
for the battery to communicate with the EPFL engineers.
Swisscom and EPFL
partner in the
digital revolution
By setting up a Digital Lab on the
EPFL campus, Swisscom undertook to
develop a new center of digitalization
expertise. The Digital Lab will draw
on EPFL’s innovative ecosystem and
Swisscom’s expertise in this field to
meet the challenges of an increasingly
connected society.
In December EPFL and Swisscom, Switzerland’s historical
telecommunications provider, signed agreements covering
two key areas: interconnected people and homes. The aim
of this link-up is to study a wide range of applications that
are opening up thanks to digitalization – new user interfaces, professional and household robotics, intelligent
cities and buildings, biological sensors and artificial intelligence. This partnership will set Switzerland apart in Europe
in terms of access to digital solutions.
58
Swisscom will also establish a permanent presence on
campus starting in 2016 through its Digital Lab. Occupying a 428m2 site in EPFL’s Innovation Park, the Lab will
provide a unique environment to develop and implement
pilot projects. “The digital revolution is under way,” said Urs
Schaeppi, CEO of Swisscom. “To maintain their competitiveness and innovative strength, Switzerland and Swiss companies have to be pioneers in this revolution, and Swisscom
is a key player. We came to EPFL in the French-speaking part of Switzerland in search of leading-edge expertise and multidisciplinary innovation, which we will further
strengthen through our commitment.”
Energy:
time to decide
The Energy Center’s new information
platform on energy transition includes
a national energy calculator that can
be used to visualize various scenarios
for Switzerland’s energy future.
Our energy system is undergoing a revolution. What type of
energies will replace nuclear power? Will the price of electricity rise? Will the hydrogen-powered car become a part
of everyday life in 2050? The Energy Center at EPFL, in collaboration with public partners, has developed an information portal, transparent and accessible to all, to help people
understand the issues related to the energy transition. The
Swiss-Energyscope portal includes a national energy calculator, powered by real scientific data, that can be used
to visualize future scenarios. In addition, Swiss-Energyscope offers MOOCs as well as a list of 100 questions and
answers on the energy transition. The questions have also
been condensed into a booklet.
Behind the simple interface lies the energy calculator, a
complex tool that shows Switzerland’s current energy consumption on an annual or seasonal basis together with scenarios developed by the Confederation for 2035 and 2050.
But its main strength lies in its ability to develop custom
scenarios and compare their consequences for Switzerland.
And the results are sometimes surprising. It turns out that
an energy system based largely on fossil fuels, nuclear
power or a combination of renewable energy sources and
energy efficiency will all cost about the same. All the other
indicators vary significantly depending on the choices made.
Swisscom and EPFL have teamed up
as pioneers in the digital revolution.
Swiss Plasma Center
to harness the
sun’s energy
The Center for Research in Plasma Physics (CRPP) became the Swiss Plasma Center
(SPC). The Swiss government gave the Lausanne-based lab a 10 million franc grant over
four years (2017-2020) to upgrade certain aspects of its facility. This will strengthen the
Lausanne-based tokamak’s position within the EUROfusion consortium in the effort to
develop nuclear fusion.
+
FUSION: AN UNLIMITED ENERGY SOURCE
The aim of fusion is to replicate the type
of reactions that take place at the sun’s core.
Using tiny quantities of materials, it will produce
much more energy than fission without generating
long-term waste.
EPFL’s tokamak is one of
three key research facilities
in Europe in the field of
fusion and is helping in the
development of the ITER
experimental reactor.
Hydrogen-2
(deuterium)
Hydrogen-3
(tritium)
Helium
Neutron
Plasma
(heated to 150,000,000 °C)
Magnetic field
(for keeping high-temperature
plasma in suspension)
The magnetic fields are positioned
to act as invisible rails in order
to guide the particles.
To produce a fusion reaction,
the substance must be heated
to very high temperatures
(around 150 million degrees Celsius).
Personalia
The Orchestre romand des jeunes
professionnels played at the diploma
ceremony on Graduation Day 2015.
PROFESSORS APPOINTED
OR PROMOTED IN 2015
62
Claudia Binder
Full Professor of Urban Ecology
and Sustainable Living (ENAC) 1
Edoardo Charbon
Full Professor
Microtechnology (STI)
Nicolai Cramer
Full Professor of Organic
Chemistry (SB)
Corentin Fivet
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Architecture and
Design of Structures (ENAC)
(EPFL Fribourg)
Romain Fleury
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering (STI)
Christian Heinis
Associate Professor of
Bioorganic Chemistry (SB)
Wenzel Jakob
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Computer Science
and Communication Systems (IC)
Mikhail Kapralov
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Computer Science
and Communication Systems (IC)
Dimitrios Lignos
Associate Professor of
Structures and Materials
(ENAC)
Semyon Malamud
Associate Professor of Finance
(CDM)
Raffaella Buonsanti
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Chemical
Engineering (SB)
(EPFL Valais Wallis)
Kristina Schoonjans
Associate Professor of Life
Sciences (SV)
Kumar Agrawal
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Chemical
Engineering (SB)
(EPFL Valais Wallis)2
Michael Herzog
Full Professor of Life Sciences
(SV)
Brian McCabe
Associate Professor of Life
Sciences (SV)
Marcel Salathé
Associate Professor of Life
Sciences (SV)
Dimitri Van De Ville
Associate Professor of
Bioengineering (STI)
(Campus Biotech, Geneva)
Christophe
Van Gerrewey
Tenure Track Assistant Professor
of Theory of Architecture (ENAC)
Matthieu Wyart
Associate Professor of
Theoretical Physics (SB)
Kenneth Younge
Associate Professor of
Corporate Entrepreneurship
(CDM)
SB: BASIC SCIENCES ENAC: ARCHITECTURE, CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
SV: LIFE SCIENCES CDM: MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY
STI: ENGINEERING
CDH: COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES
Paul Bowen
Adjunct Professor (STI)
Bryan Ford
Associate Professor of
Computer Science and
Communication Systems (IC)5
Nikolaos Geroliminis
Associate Professor of
Transport Engineering (ENAC)
Andras Kis
Associate Professor of
Electrical and Electronic
Engineering (STI)
Christos Kozyrakis
Full Professor of Computer
Science and Communication
Systems (IC)
Dimitrios Kyritsis
Adjunct Professor (STI)
Brice Lecampion
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Geo-Energy
(ENAC) 3
Sebastian Maerkl
Associate Professor of
Bioengineering (STI)
Sylvie Roke
Associate Professor of
Bioengineering (STI)4
Marie Violay
Tenure Track Assistant Professor
of Rock Mechanics (ENAC)
Aleksandra
Radenovic
Associate Professor of
Bioengineering (STI)
Mahmut Selman Sakar
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Mechanical
Engineering (STI)
Vasiliki Tileli
Tenure Track Assistant
Professor of Materials Science
(STI)
Paolo Tombesi
Full Professor of Construction
and Architecture (ENAC)
(EPFL Fribourg)
Bruno Oberle
Adjunct Professor (CDM)
Jürgen Brugger
Full Professor of
Microtechnology (STI)
François Gallaire
Associate Professor of
Mechanical Engineering (STI)
João Penedones
Tenure Track Assistant Professor
of Theoretical Physics (SB)
1
Swiss Mobiliar Chair in Urban Ecology and Sustainable Living
Gaznat Chair for Advanced Separations
Gaznat Chair on Geo-Energy
4
Julia Jacobi Chair in Photomedicine
5
AXA research program in data security and protection
2
3
Alec Wodtke
Adjunct Professor (SB)
Personalia
IC: COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION SCIENCES
63
Donors
2015
DONOR APPRECIATION
EPFL wishes to thank the following individuals, companies and foundations who
have concluded new partnerships or joined the School’s donor circle in 2015.
Through their exceptional commitment to science, education and development,
they have contributed to the quality of research, studies and life on campus.
AXA
AXA research program in data security and protection
BERTARELLI FOUNDATION
Bertarelli Program in Translational Neuroscience and Neuroengineering
FIRMENICH SA
Firmenich Next Generation Chair in Neuroscience;
research exchange program with Stanford
FONDATION GANDUR POUR L’ART
Museum space, Under One Roof; Fondation Gandur pour l’Art Chair
64
MR. GILBERT HAUSMANN
Legacy used to create the Gilbert Hausmann Award
MR. ANDRÉ HOFFMANN
MOOC on managing protected areas in Africa
KRISTIAN GERHARD JEBSEN FOUNDATION
Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Foundation Chair in metabolism and nutrition;
research grant program; metabolomics facility technical platform; public outreach
MR. CLAUDE LATOUR
Latour Chair in Digital Musicology
MR. JEAN LEBEL SR.
Adrien Palaz Auditorium
FONDATION PHILANTHROPIA
EPFL-ICRC Humanitarian Tech Hub
MR. THIERRY PLOJOUX
Support for interdisciplinary projects in the field of biomimicry
EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD FOUNDATIONS
Africa MOOCs program
We also thank the following
donors for their continued
support and trust:
We would like to thank
those who donated to
the following programs:
Chairs
Euler Courses for Gifted Students: Anonymous
donor, Prof. Kathryn Hess Bellwald, Mr. Barry
Chasemore Gates, Mr. Charles Maillefer,
Fondation Henri Moser, NCCR-SwissMAP, PPG
Foundation, Prof. Jacques Rappaz,
Mr. Jacques de Saussure, Mr. Andreas Schlaepfer,
Mr. Dan Stoicescu, UBS Foundation for Social
Issues and Education
BANQUE LANDOLT & CIE
GROUP OF DONORS
ADVISED BY CARIGEST SA
MEDTRONIC EUROPE SARL
CONSTELLIUM
MERCK SERONO
INTERNATIONAL SA
DEBIOPHARM SA
SWISS MOBILIAR
DEFITECH FOUNDATION
NESTLÉ SA
EOS HOLDING SA
PATEK PHILIPPE SA
FERRING INTERNATIONAL
CENTER SA
PETROSVIBRI SA
GAZNAT SA
PX GROUP SA
INTERNATIONAL
FOUNDATION FOR
RESEARCH IN
PARAPLEGIA (IRP)
ISREC FOUNDATION
DR. JULIA JACOBI
SWISS POST
RICHEMONT
INTERNATIONAL SA
SANDOZ FAMILY
FOUNDATION
SWISS FINANCE INSTITUTE
SWISSQUOTE SA
SWISSUP FOUNDATION
PROJECTS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Campus biotech
BERTARELLI FOUNDATION
Digitalization and promotion of
Montreux Jazz Festival Archives
HANS WILSDORF
FOUNDATION
AUDEMARS PIGUET SA
AMPLIDATA
WYSS FOUNDATION
ERNST GÖHNER
FOUNDATION
Under One Roof
ROLEX SA
FONDATION GANDUR
POUR L’ART
MR. VASILIEV SHAKNOVSKY
LOGITECH EUROPE SA
LOTERIE ROMANDE
LOGITECH EUROPE SA
FONDATION
LOMBARD ODIER
Limnology Center
MONTREUX SOUNDS SA
Ferring International
Center SA
EPFL Middle East
Development Office
Government of
Ras Al Khaimah
Fondation
Lombard Odier
Venice Time Machine
Fondation
Lombard Odier
Scientastic Festival: Alcoa Foundation,
Fondation Leenaards, Romande Energie
Science Outreach: Member companies of KGFKontaktgruppe für Forschungsfragen (BASF,
F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Syngenta), Leister
Foundation, L’Oréal Suisse, SimplyScience
Stiftung, PRECI-DIP, Cisco
Excellence scholarships: Debiopharm,
Rodolphe and Renée Haenny Foundation,
Novartis, UPC-Cablecom, Rescif-CARE, Werner
Doctoral scholarship:
Pierre-François Vittone Fund
Innogrants: Innovaud (Foundation for
Technological Innovation), CA Technologies
Research grants funded by foundations:
Fondation BCV; Fondation Jacqueline Beytout;
Centre de recherche sur l’environnement
alpin; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft;
Fondation Claude et Giuliana; Fondation pour
l’étude des eaux du Léman; Fondation Enfants
Papillons; The Anna Fuller Fund; Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation; Gebert Rüf Stiftung; Hasler
Foundation; Helmholtz Association; Else
Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung; Fondation Latsis;
Fondation Leenaards; Ligue suisse contre le
cancer; Fondation Pierre Mercier pour la science;
Fondation Emma Muschamp; National Research
Foundation of Korea; Novartis Foundation for
medical-biological research; Oak Foundation;
Fondation de Préfargier; Qatar Environment and
Energy Research institute; Fondation Recherche
sur le cancer de l’enfant; Fondation romande
pour la recherche sur le diabète; Association
Song-Taaba; Stiftung für naturwissenschaftliche
und technische Forschung; Fondation Strauss;
Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research;
Swiss Bridge Foundation; Swiss Vaccine Research
Institute; Synapsis Foundation
Personalia
BERTARELLI FOUNDATION
65
DR HONORIS CAUSA 2015
Margaret
McFall-Ngai
Frederik
Paulsen
66
Bonnie
Berger
THREE KEY FIGURES WERE AWARDED HONORIS CAUSA DEGREES
IN THE 2015 MAGISTRALE GRADUATION CEREMONY.
Margaret McFall-Ngai, a microbiologist and a professor at the University of Hawaii, in recognition of her excellence in the field of research on animal-bacteria interactions and her
untiring commitment to the scientific community, where she is particularly devoted to promoting young researchers and, most notably, women.
Bonnie Berger, a mathematician and computer scientist and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in recognition of her fundamental contributions in applying
computer and mathematical techniques to basic research in the field of molecular biology.
Frederik Paulsen, the chairman of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, who turned a family-owned
pharmaceutical company into a multinational. The intrepid explorer and first person to reach
all eight of the earth’s poles. A lover of the arts and culture, with a passion for scientific discovery and technological breakthroughs. A discreet philanthropist who personally led many
ambitious projects around the world, from preserving precious ecosystems to protecting
indigenous peoples and their traditions. And a faithful supporter and true friend of EPFL.
Vice president
OrganiZation
Patrick
Aebischer
President
André
Schneider
Vice president
for Resources
and infrastructure
Philippe
Gillet
Vice president
of academic affairs
Adrienne
Corboud
Fumagalli
Vice president
of innovation and
technology transfer
Karl
Aberer
Vice president
of information systems
Personalia
epfl presidency
67
schools
SB
Sv
Sti
ic
enac
Basic Sciences
Life Sciences
Engineering
-Bioengineering
-Neuroscience
-Global Health
-Cancer
-Electrical
Engineering
-Mechanical
Engineering
-Materials Science
-Microengineering
-Bioengineering
Computer &
Communication
Sciences
Architecture, Civil
& Environmental
Engineering
-Computer Science
-Communication
Systems
-Architecture
- Civil Engineering
-Environmental
Engineering
-Mathematics
-Physics
-Chemistry
COLLeGES
CdH
CdM
College of Humanities
Management of Technology
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Area & Cultural Studies
- Digital Humanities
-Management of Technology
-Financial Engineering
-Technology and Public Policy
68
EPFL
in figures
2015
quick facts
research
354
laboratories
3,467
scientific publications
(ISI web of science referenced)*
teaching
13
bachelor programs
24
master programs
113
ERC grants (2007 to 2015)
four from sFNS in 2014
(compensatory measures)
* Data at end-February. These figures may still change until May or June 2016.
tech transfer
20
r&d units
in the innovation park
111
million chf start-up
funding in 2015
12.9
start-ups per year
since 1997 (average)
(18 created in 2015)
e p f l
i n
f i g u r e s 69
CAMPUS POPULATION
(NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS)
5,205 BSc
2,646 MSc
STUDENTS
2,077 PhD
196 postgraduate
1,173 administrative staff
PERSONNEL
722 technical staff
3,554 research & lecturers (including assistants)
338 professors
14,159
CAMPUS
TOTAL
POPULATION
(1,752 PhD students
are counted only
once in the total)
129 preparatory maths students
1,960 Innovation Park staff
70
STUDENT BODY
OVERVIEW OF BACHELORS, MASTERS
AND DOCTORAL CANDIDATES
1,753
BSc et CMS
matriculations
273
MSc (external)
matriculations
518
PhD
matriculations
3,224 candidates
2,108 admissions
1,753 matriculations
2,166 candidates
594 admissions
273 matriculations
3,715 candidates
958 admissions
518 matriculations
GROWTH IN BUDGET
AND STUDENT NUMBERS
1982
1997
2015
2,367 students
163,142 KCHF budget*
4,302 students
354,395 KCHF budget*
10,124 students
653,865 KCHF budget*
* Direct government funding, excluding internal revenue
e p f l
i n
f i g u r e s
STUDENTS BY FIELD
AND STUDY LEVEL
BACHELOR
Basic Sciences (SB)
CONTINUING
MASTER DOCTORAL EDUCATION
TOTAL
1,988
1,006
478
Mathematics
341
150
81
572
Physics
391
163
213
767
Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
274
165
210
649
Life Sciences (SV)
517
231
259
1,007
Engineering (STI)
1,527
735
711
2,973
Materials Science & Engineering
147
129
133
409
Mechanical Engineering
646
227
118
991
Microengineering
570
185
199
954
Electrical Engineering
164
194
261
619
Computer and Communication
Sciences (IC)
739
422
243
1,404
Communication Systems
246
141
87
474
Computer Science
493
281
156
930
1,416
612
305
Environmental Engineering
205
144
97
446
Civil Engineering
361
217
107
685
Architecture
850
251
101
53
1,255
133
55
143
331
Management of Technology
57
39
143
239
Financial Engineering
76
16
Energy Management and
Sustainability (MES)
35
Architecture, Civil and
Environmental Engineering
(ENAC)
Management of
Technology (CdM)
Total
504
5,205 2,646 2,077
Bachelors + Masters students
7,851
53
2,386
92
35
196 10,124
71
72
STUDENT BODY
A DECADE OF GROWTH
BY FACULTY*
SB 1,338
SV 364
STI 1,693
IC 1,171
ENAC 1,524
6,239
STUDENTS
IN 2005
CdM 149
MES 0
SB 1,988
SV 1,007
10,124
STI 2,973
STUDENTS
IN 2015
IC 1,404
ENAC 2,386
CdM 331
MES 35
* SB: Basic Sciences
SV: Life Sciences
STI: Engineering
IC: Computer and Communication
Sciences
ENAC: Architecture, Civil &
Environmental Engineering
CdM: Management of Technology
MES: Energy Management
and Sustainability
STUDENTS FROM OUTSIDE SWITZERLAND
(EXCLUDING SWISS RESIDENTS)
Doctoral
79.5%
(1,652)
Bachelor
+ Master
43.2%
(3,388)
Bachelor: 2,060 − 39.6%
Master: 1,328− 50.2%
e p f l
i n
f i g u r e s 73
WOMEN ON CAMPUS
PROPORTION OF WOMEN STUDENTS
BY FACULTY
SB
27.6%
SV
50.3%
ENAC
39.1%
CdM
32.9%
40%
30%
STI
16.6%
IC
14.7%
50%
20%
10%
0%
GROWTH IN THE PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN STUDENTS
27.7%
20.5%
28%
22%
16%
16%
11.8%
10%
1982
1992
2002
2015
Tenure Track
Assistant Professor
30%
WOMEN PROFESSORS FTE
30%
25%
Associate
15.7%
Full
7.9%
20%
SNSF
Assistant
Professor
9.2%
15%
10%
5%
0%
74
PERSONNEL
EPFL PERSONNEL BY FACULTY AND DEPARTMENT
(FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS)
TOTAL
Transdisciplinary Units (ENT)
Basic Sciences (SB)
Mathematics
162.6
1,231.4
187.4
Physics
543.5
Chemistry
500.6
Life Sciences (SV)
733.0
Engineering (STI)
1,307.8
Materials Science
239.7
Mechanical Engineering
259.1
Microengineering
475.9
Electrical Engineering
333.1
Computer and Communication Sciences (IC)
Communication Systems
Computer Science
444.6
177.1
267.4
Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC)
639.8
Environmental Engineering
220.8
Civil Engineering
199.3
Architecture
219.6
Management of Technology (CdM)
100.7
Management of Technology
63.6
Financial Engineering
37.1
College of Humanities (CdH)
Central services
Total
22.7
698.7
5,341.0
e p f l
i n
f i g u r e s 75
PERSONNEL BY CATEGORY
(FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS)
TOTAL
Government
funded
Third party
funded
(public &
private)
Professors
309.0
294.7
14.3
Full Professors
167.7
165.5
2.2
Associate Professors
78.1
78.1
0.0
Tenure Track Assistant Professors
56.7
51.0
5.7
6.5
0.1
6.4
3,357.8
1,503.1
1,854.7
47.2
45.2
2.0
SNSF Assistant Professors
Research Scientists and Lecturers
Adjunct Professors
77.6
72.5
5.1
Assistants
1,959.8
726.3
1,233.4
Scientific Collaborators
1,273.2
659.1
614.1
Administrative and Technical Staff
1,674.3
1,454.2
220.2
Administrative Staff
995.5
873.2
122.3
Technical Staff
678.9
581.0
97.9
Senior Scientists
Total
5,341.0 3,251.9 2,089.1
60.9% 39.1%
31.3%
Administrative
and Technical
Staff
1,674.3
62.9%
3,357.8
Research Scientists
and Lecturers
5.8%
Professors
309
76
FINANCES*
FULL-YEAR EXPENDITURES BY FUNDING SOURCE (kCHF)1
45,006
Other
79,411
Swiss National
3
30,196
Internal
Science Foundation 4
17,155
CTI
revenue 2
53,818
European programs
12,775
653,865
Federal Budget
Total kCHF
965,047
Public sector
(excluding internal revenue)
72,820
Contracts
Third Party Funding
1
Total expenditure including construction
(including Federal Office for Buildings and
Logistics [FOBL] allocation)
2
Tuition fees, services, financial revenue, etc.
3
Sponsoring, foundations, committed and reserved
funds, conferences, continuing education, etc.
4
Including NCCR and NanoTera/SystemsX project
funding
EXPENDITURE BY SECTOR (kCHF)
Total (kCHF)
965,047
Personnel
618,468
Operating Costs
Investments
Construction
230,245
61,644
54,690
*Figures correspond to EPFL budgetary accounts which may differ from those issued by ETH financial accounting.
This is due to account closing differences with no monetary impact.
e p f l
i n
f i g u r e s 77
FULL-YEAR EXPENDITURE 2015 (THOUSANDS OF CHF)
Personnel
OPERATING
costs
IInvestments
Total
Third-party
funding
Basic Sciences (SB)
138,132
24,712
23,590
186,434
54,996
Mathematics
24,401
2,601
12
27,014
5,479
Physics
66,291
12,470
8,267
87,028
28,717
Chemistry
47,440
9,640
15,312
72,392
20,800
Life Sciences (SV)
80,116
23,103
3,937
107,156
39,750
Engineering (STI)
137,274
26,492
9,178
172,944
71,845
Materials Science
25,935
6,583
2,146
34,664
13,375
Mechanical Engineering
28,533
3,717
1,229
33,479
13,392
Microengineering
49,634
8,735
3,767
62,136
25,044
33,173
7,456
2,035
42,665
20,034
Computer and Communication Sciences (IC)
47,846
7,011
1,189
56,046
16,888
Communication Systems
18,937
2,404
414
21,755
5,699
Computer Science
28,909
4,607
775
34,292
11,188
Architecture, Civil and Environmental
Engineering (ENAC)
72,667
10,841
2,384
85,892
21,522
Environmental Engineering
24,097
4,027
1,545
29,669
8,172
Electrical Engineering
Civil Engineering
21,575
3,329
794
25,697
7,677
Architecture
26,996
3,485
45
30,525
5,672
Management of Technology (CdM)
13,683
2,735
16,418
4,928
Management of Technology
8,596
1,981
10,577
3,720
Financial Engineering
5,087
754
5,841
1,208
College of Humanities (CdH)
2,722
900
3,622
728
106,651
124,191
21,209
252,050
42,266
19,375
10,261
157
29,793
11,873
0
0
54,690
54,690
16,190
Central services (including EPFL Middle East)
Transdisciplinary Units
Construction (BBL)
Total
618,468 230,245 116,334 965,047 280,986
78
RESEARCH
INTERNATIONAL RANKING
EUROPE
WORLD
5th
5th
17th
14th
3rd
2nd
14th
15th
6th
11th
14th
31st
QS
(Engineering)
ARWU/Shanghai
(Engineering)
QS Global
Times Higher Education
(Engineering)
Leiden
QS
(Engineering)
ARWU/Shanghai
(Engineering)
Times Higher
Education
QS Global
Times Higher Education
(Engineering)
Leiden
Times Higher
Education
PROGRESSION IN
QS GLOBAL RANKING
EUROPE
WORLD
1
2007
rd
43
2015
th
2015
th
6
14
100
2007
117th
200
e p f l
i n
f i g u r e s 79
tech transfer
Technology transfer
by faculty
Invention &
Patent
Start-ups
technology disclosures registration1 Licensing
created
Basic Sciences (SB)
27
15
8
4
Life Sciences (SV)
18
13
7
5
Engineering (STI)
77
44
19
2
Computer and Communication Sciences (IC)
20
11
7
4
Architecture, Civil & Environmental Engineering (ENAC)
7
1
4
2
Management of Technology (CdM)
0
0
0
0
Central services (including ENT and CdH)
8
4
3
1
157
88
48
18
Total
1
priority applications
10
GROWTH IN TECH TRANSFER
(1999-2015)
Corporations
48
Licenses
and transfer
agreements
31
Start-ups
48
Invention & technology
disclosures
EPFL + SME
Priority patent appl.
88
Licences, TT agr.
& options
48
Start-ups
18
23
7
Public
institutions
and foundations
19
CHF 31.5 million
Industrial contracts managed
by the TTO in 2015
13
VC Funding (CHFm)
17
157
111
80
SUSTAINABILITY
TOTAL CO2-EQUIVALENT EMISSIONS* (CAMPUS)
5,024
7,722
Commuting
Heating /
cooling
567
Electricity
2,864
2012
24,471
tons CO2-eq
Infrastructure
1,987
6,308
Business
Processes
travel
2,906
Heating /
cooling
7,728
Commuting
701
Electricity
3,395
Infrastructure
2015
22,851
tons CO2-eq
1,229
Processes
6,892
Business
travel
* Baseline 2012 (First year of hydro and solar electricity supply)
CO2 balance based on a Life Cycle approach established with the EPFL spinoff Quantis.
Data missing for 2015: Geneva hub.
e p f l
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
2012
2015
Total electricity purchased EPFL
74,094
79,965
Total electricity purchased EPFL Vaud
82,046
82,013
Total electricity purchased EPFL Neuchâtel
0
2,680
Total electricity purchased EPFL Valais
0
520
-7,953
-5,248
9,844
2,616
15,174
12,668
eLeCTRICITy (MWh)
Electricity sold to third parties
oil (MWh)
Total oil purchased (academic)
GAS (MWh)
Total gas purchased (academic)
i n
f i g u r e s
81
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